It was a silent film. So silent, it remained forgotten for over 100 years.
May 28, 2023: JANM presented “The Oath of the Sword,” believed to be the earliest Asian American film production.
Before Hollywood was Hollywood, LA already had JA. And in 1914, a group of Japanese Americans made a movie. A short silent film, produced by Japanese American cast and crew.
They called it The Oath of the Sword.
It was likely the first Asian American film production in U.S. history. But it didn’t make it into the textbooks. Or the documentaries. Or the film canons.
For more than a century, it was forgotten.
In 2016, a copy of The Oath of the Sword was rediscovered.
On May 28, 2023, the Japanese American National Museum presented it to the public, 109 years after it was made.
This wasn’t just a lost film. It was a lost milestone — proof that Japanese Americans were telling their own stories in America long before they were ever truly allowed to.
At a time when Asians were being excluded, discriminated against, and depicted only through caricature and stereotype in mainstream media, this film was something else entirely.
We often think of Asian American representation in Hollywood as a recent fight.
But this film reminds us: It started long ago. Let’s not forget again.
