Tressie Souders (February 7, 1897 – January 17, 1995) was the first known African American female to direct a feature film: 1922's A Woman's Error.
Early life
Theresa Ann Souders was born in Frankfort, Kansas, the only child of Robert Souders and Leuvenia Ann Bryant, African-American natives of Kentucky who emigrated to Kansas, most likely as a result of the mass migration of African-Americans from the South to the American West due to the Exoduster movement."California, County Marriages, 1850-1952," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1971-29947-33501-9?cc=1804002 : accessed 3 March 2015), 005698576 > image 2026 of 3031; county courthouses, California. Although Souders stated on the marriage license that both her parents were natives of Kansas, census returns and her mother's obituary ([Frankfort, Kan.] Index, July 31, 1969, 1) lists the birthplace of both parents as Kentucky(Marysville, Kan.), Marshall County News, October 2, 1896, 5 The couple split, and on June 9, 1904,"Golden Wedding," (Frankfort, Kan.) Index, June 24, 1954, 5. Leuvenia married Chester Arthur Harris,"Chester Harris Rites March 4," (Frankfort, Kan.) Index, March 8, 1956, 1. a porter for the Missouri Pacific Railroad, with whom she would have six more children.1920 Federal Census for Vermilion Township, Marshall County, Kansas (City of Frankfort) Enumeration District 83, Sheet 4-B, Lines 77-83(Marysville, Kan.) Marshall County News, September 25, 1903, 1
Tressie grew up in Frankfort and graduated from Frankfort High School in 1918.Frankfort High School, Frankfort, Kansas, Alumni List: http://www.frankfort.usd380.com/student_life/alumni/1911-1920.html After graduation, she journeyed to Kansas City, Missouri where she was employed as a maid in private homes, a job she would perform for most of her working life.
According to the Kansas City city directory for 1921, she was working as a maid at the Mack B. Nelson House at 5500 Ward Parkway in the Sunset Hill neighborhood of the Country Club District in Kansas City, Missouri.Polk's Kansas City (Missouri) Directory (Kansas City, Mo.: Gate City Publishing, 1921), 2120
A Woman's Error
It is not yet known how Tressie Souders got into the film-making business, although it is known that she performed in an amateur theatrical production, a morality play entitled "Every Negro" written by the Reverend A. Lawrence Kimbrough of the Holsey Chapel Christian Methodist Episcopal Church of Frankfort in 1918."Every Negro," (Frankfort, Kan.)Index, September 11, 1918, 1
Kansas City physician A. Porter Davis produced and starred in The Lure of A Woman which was produced in 1921,(Kansas City, Mo.) Advocate, advertisement for "Lure of A Woman," August 6, 1921, 1; Harry Levette, "Harry Levette's Hollywood," (Los Angeles) Sentinel, September 25, 1959, SM-22 while local newspaper editor, author, lecturer, and social activist Maria P. Williams produced, directed and starred in a 1923 melodrama The Flames of Wrath.Frank Driggs and Chuck Haddix (2006) Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop. New York: Oxford University Press, 30 Both productions were locally made and produced, and enlisted local talent.
In January 1922, the Afro-American Film Exhibitors Company of Kansas City, Missouri, with offices in Baltimore, Maryland and Dallas, Texas, contracted with Souders to distribute her film "A Woman's Error". Billboard Magazine for January 28, 1922 (34:107) published the company's announcement that "'A Woman's Error' was the first of its kind to be produced by a young woman of our race, and has been passed on by the critics as a picture true to Negro life."
To date, no prints have been located.
Later life
Sometime between 1923 and 1926, Tressie Souders moved to Los Angeles, California, possibly intending to get into the motion picture business.(Frankfort, Kan.) Index, August 25, 1923, 2; March 13, 1926, 2 However, she appears in surviving public records as a domestic worker. In the 1930 Federal Census, as "Tressa Souders", she is listed as a resident of the Sojourner Truth Industrial Home at 1139 East Adams Avenue.1930 Federal Census for Los Angeles County Enumeration District 293, Sheet 11-B, Line 56 She would stay at that address until 1935, when she married Oscar C. West, a native of Richmond, Virginia who ran a pool hall in the Watts section of Los Angeles.Los Angeles Times. December 5, 1935, 25; The marriage was short-lived; by 1940, she is in San Francisco, California, living at the Madame C.J. Walker Home for Girls at 2066 Pine Street.1940 Federal Census for San Francisco County, California, Enumeration District 38-531, Sheet 7-A, line 39 Oscar West died in 1942 in Los Angeles."California, Death Index, 1940-1997," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VGYZ-BK6 : accessed 3 March 2015), Oscar C West, 03 Oct 1942; Department of Public Health Services, Sacramento. There were no children.
Tressie West appears to have remained in San Francisco for the rest of her life, subject to periodic trips to Los Angeles"Guest of Honor," (Los Angeles) Sentinel, August 2, 1951, C-3 or back home to Kansas.(Frankfort, Kan.) Index, August 23, 1943, 3; March 8, 1956, 1
Legacy and honors
The Tressie Souders Film Society grew from the International Black Women's Film Festival (IBWFF), founded in 2001 in San Francisco. According to its website, the Society "recognizes, supports and preserves the works of film and video by and/or featuring Blacks in non-stereotypical...roles....The society’s goals are to provide a voice, resources, support, training, and guidance to emerging and established filmmakers who exemplify the society’s mission and the mission of the International Black Women's Film Festival."http://tsfilmsociety.org.nerdydata.com/
In 2008, the IBWFF established the Tressie Souders Awards ("Tressies"), now known as the Black Laurel Awards.
The IBWFF has recently initiated the "Tressie Magazine"; its goal is to provide "insightful articles about your favorite Black actresses, including a refreshingly contemporary look at style, music and the film industry –especially in regards to women of color."
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