Bonus: Our Ancestors Were Messy - Oscar Micheaux and the Family Feud That Launched Black Hollywood

What's Ray Saying?

Ray Christian

Blackhistory, Storyteller, Blackculture, History, Story, Storytelling, Arts, Slam, Africanamerican

5 • 625 Ratings

🗓️ 14 May 2025

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Let us introduce you to Our Ancestors Were Messy, a podcast covering the gossip, scandals, and pop culture that made headlines in the Black newspapers of segregated communities during the pre-Civil Rights era. On each episode, host Nichole Hill and her guests follow the story of an ancestor who went searching for opportunity, adventure, liberation, and love and made a mess - and eventually history - along the way.

On this episode, Ray joins Nichole for "Oscar Micheaux and the Family Feud That Launched Black Hollywood".

At the turn of the century, Oscar Micheaux - a dreamer from Smallville - makes his way to the big city searching for fame, fortune...and a change to his single status! What he finds is a wife he loves, a father-in-law he hates, and a path into Black history he could have never imagined.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, friends, this is Ray, the source of all black knowledge.
0:06.1	Let me introduce you to this wonderful podcast I just had a ball being a part of.
0:11.3	It's a show called Our Ancestors Were Messy, a multi-award winning historic comedy podcast
0:18.4	that covers the gossip, scandals, and pop culture that made headlines
0:24.2	in the black newspapers of segregated communities during the pre-civil rights era.
0:30.4	On each episode, host Nicole Hill and her guests follow the story of a black ancestor
0:36.5	who went searching for opportunity, adventure,
0:40.3	liberation, and love, and made a mess and eventually history along the way.
0:47.3	In this episode, me and Nicole talk about Oscar Micho, a turn-of-the-century black man and a dreamer from Smallville,
0:58.2	who makes his way to the big city in search of fame, fortune, and with a single man's status.
1:06.0	What could be more straightforward than that, other than the fact that folks are going to talk and folks going
1:12.5	to draw conclusions. Well, man, our ancestors were messy. Enjoy. The Secret Adventures of Black
1:22.2	People Presents. Our ancestors were messy. A real life is stranger than fiction.
1:28.4	Today, a young man attempts to transform himself from Smallville Dreamer to daring frontiersman.
1:34.7	Look, he's the wrong guy for this trip.
1:37.4	But to succeed, he must survive on the battlefield of love.
1:44.1	He hasn't seen her in three years, but he's like, she's still fine.
1:47.2	I'm so happy.
1:47.9	Her eyes are dreamlike.
1:50.2	Today's episode stars Dr. Ray Christian, an award-winning oral historian, host of the podcast
1:56.4	What's Ray Sayan, and residents of rural Appalachia.
2:00.4	I tell stories, and then I go feed dogs, cats.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Ray Christian, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Ray Christian and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.