Oscar Micheaux

The Conquest Oscar Micheaux

Originally published anonymously, "The Conquest: The Story of a Negro Pioneer" tells a compelling story based in part upon Micheaux's own life and serving as a sort of autobiography. The novel follows the actions of "Oscar Devereaux," a black man who strikes out to the American West as a homesteader in the early Twentieth Century. Micheaux believed that African-Americans suffering from poverty in cities and in the South and East could achieve prosperity by moving West as homesteaders. He expended considerable time trying to persuade other African-Americans to move West. "The Conquest" served as a fictionalized treatise expressing Micheaux's views on enterprise, respect, and the pioneer spirit.