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Abstract
Carlton Moss (1909-1997) was a prolific African American scriptwriter, actor, and educator. He is best known for his work in writing and acting in the 1944 army documentary The Negro Soldier, a United States War Department production. Many historians have analyzed The Negro Soldier, a landmark in African American film history and one of the earliest public statements the War Department produced promoting racial inclusivity.1 Given the extensive coverage The Negro Soldier has received, it is surprising scholars rarely mention Moss or how he shaped the film. In fact, The Negro Soldier is very much a product of Moss's lifetime commitment to utilize popular culture to "ameliorate racial tensions" by contributing to "education, recognizing the humanity of these people [minorities]."2 Moss's upbringing, his time with the Morgan Players, and his relationship with professor Randolph Edmonds taught him how to use popular culture as a tool to fight for political and economic equality. Moss utilized what he learned throughout his radio, theater, and early film career, leaving his indeliblefootprint on The Negro Soldier. Moreover, Moss's career demonstrates that African Americans effectively utilized non-commercial patronage to work free of stereotypes that permeated commercial industries.
Artist in the Making
On Valentine's Day in 1909, Frederick Douglass Moss and Sarah Vincent Moss gave birth to Carlton Moss in Newark, New Jersey.3 Compared to most African American families in the early twentieth century, the Mosses were fairly well off financially. A coachman to a private family, Frederick Moss earned enough to rent a home and allowed his wife, Sarah, to devote her time to raising their two sons, Carlton and Sheldon Moss.4 Carlton grew close to his birth mother, making her death in 1915 difficult to bear.5 His father Frederick, unable to work and care for his young children, sent his children to North Carolina to live with friends.6 In 1916, Frederick Moss remarried, this time to Mabel Moss.7 The couple took out a mortgage for a new home, and brought Carlton and Sheldon back to what is now the City of Orange Township, New Jersey, just twenty-five miles from the heart of Harlem.8 Over the next four years the Moss family grew to seven strong after the births of Frederick, Mary, and Willis.9
Frederick and Mable Moss...