Pearl Bowser facts for kids

Pearl Bowser (born Pearl Johnson; June 25, 1931 – September 14, 2023) was an amazing American author, film expert, and filmmaker. She also collected and shared many important films. Pearl Bowser helped people learn more about African American movies.

In 1970, she worked with others to create a special film show called “The Black Film” at the Jewish Museum. This show made many people interested in Black cinema. Pearl Bowser spent much of her career traveling. She wanted to help filmmakers whose movies were not often seen.

One of her most important works was her research on Oscar Micheaux. He was a Black film pioneer from the early 1900s. Pearl Bowser wrote a book about his first ten years as a director. Micheaux made many films between 1918 and 1940. Thanks to Pearl Bowser, some of his rare films were found again.

She also started African Diaspora Images. This is a collection of films and stories that show the history of African American filmmaking. In the 1960s and 1970s, she even taught young people about movies.

Pearl Bowser first wanted to study Black women in early filmmaking. But she ended up studying both men and women. This was because very few Black women were among the first African American filmmakers.

In 2012, Pearl Bowser gave her large film collection to the Smithsonian Institution. It is now kept at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Some films in her collection include Hands of Image by John W. Fletcher and Four Women by Julie Dash.

Early Life

Pearl Johnson was born on June 25, 1931. She grew up in Sugar Hill, Harlem, New York. She was the youngest of seven children. Her mother, also named Pearl Johnson, worked as a domestic helper.

Growing up, Pearl loved going to movie theaters in Harlem. She watched many different kinds of films. Pearl Bowser faced racism as a child. But she did not let it stop her love for reading and learning. She did very well in school. She even went to Brooklyn College on a scholarship. However, she left college to work at CBS.

Pearl Bowser found an interesting club called the Paul Robeson Club. It was an interracial club that met in Bronx park, Tibbetts Brook. Here, she learned a lot about culture, art, and film. She felt a strong sense of belonging and pride in this club.

In 1955, Pearl married LeRoy Bowser. They both became active in the Civil Rights Movement. LeRoy worked with Brooklyn CORE (Congress of Racial Equality). Pearl and other activists filmed African American culture and issues. They worked to bring these films to schools.

Career Highlights

Pearl Bowser started her film career by chance. A friend, Ricky Leacock, asked her to help in his office. She helped with ordering film equipment. In 1971, she began teaching about African American and African films. She taught at universities, libraries, and museums.

That same year, she organized her first film festival. It was called the Black Film History Series. Later, in 1979, she made history again. Pearl Bowser organized the first American women's film festival in New York City. These festivals were very special. They showed a big collection of independent Black American films from 1920 to 1980.

In 1989, she helped plan the 35th Flaherty Film Seminar. This event showed films like Finzan and Daughters of the Dust. From 1978 to 1987, Pearl Bowser was also the director of the Theater Project. This was at Third World Newsreel. This group is the largest distributor of independent films by people of color in the United States.

In the 1980s, Pearl Bowser received a special grant. She used it to travel across the United States. She collected stories from people who knew Oscar Micheaux. She followed the paths he would have traveled many years before. This research made her a very important person in the Black independent film world. As she traveled, she also showed films by independent Black filmmakers.

Pearl Bowser did not direct her first film until the 1990s. Her first documentary was called Midnight Ramble. It explored how African Americans were shown in Hollywood movies from 1910 to the 1950s. After this film, she started Chamba Educational Film Services. This company distributed films made by African American filmmakers. In the early 1980s, she renamed her collection African Diaspora Images. It continues to document Black film history.

Pearl Bowser passed away in Brooklyn, New York, on September 14, 2023. She was 92 years old.

Filmography

• Namibia: Independence Now! (1985)
• Wild Women Don't Have the Blues (1989)
• Midnight Ramble: Oscar Micheaux and the Story of Black Movies (1994)
• The Watermelon Woman (1996)
• Women of Vision: Histories in Feminist Film & Video (1998)
• That's Black Entertainment: Westerns (2002)
• Secrets of New York (2005)
• In the Shadow of Hollywood: Race Movies and the Birth of Black Cinema (2007)

Publications

• Writing Himself Into History: Oscar Micheaux, His Silent Films, and His Audiences, 2000, Rutgers University Press
• The History of Black Film, article in Black Film Review.
• Oscar Micheaux and His Circle (Catalog)