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''The Exile'' was a 1931 ), Micheaux spent several years as a cattle rancher in an otherwise all-white area of South Dakota . The story begins in and nightclub. Baptiste, instead, buys land in South Dakota and becomes a successful rancher. Five years into his time there, he falls in love with young Agnes Stewart (", she conjectures on how light or dark he may be, with words to the effect that "some Negroes are no darker than my mother"—though with no sign of her ever having questioned her late mother's racial identity, or her own. Further, her father has demurred from another rancher's racist remark, quoting Robert Burns , " A Man's A Man For A' That ". Fleeing back to Chicago to escape his supposedly doomed relationship, the previously teetotaling Baptiste returns to Edith's club, her liquor, and her charms. They plan to marry, but a former lover of hers, an Ethiopia n named Jango ( Carl Mahon ) appears on the scene, sneaks into Edith's room and complains of how she has ruined him. He threatens suicide; she, who has nothing but contempt for him, hands him a gun; however, instead of killing himself, he kills her. Baptiste is initially suspected of the murder, but is cleared. Meanwhile, Agnes's father, discovering that Baptiste has fled, tells her about her own background. Earlier in the film, there has been reference to the One-drop Rule : it is clear that in the time's (and Micheaux's) conception of race, this defines her as Black. She takes a train to Chicago, where she and Baptiste are reunited; they marry and return to South Dakota. The plot gives Micheaux plenty of opportunity to stage nightclub acts, notably singer Celeste Cole , dancer Louise Cook , Tap Dancer Roland Holder , and Don Heywood and His Band, as well as a bevy of chorus girls. NOTES REFERENCES |
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