Within Our Gates 1920

Sylvia Landry, a young African-American woman, Sylvia Landry visits her cousin Alma Prichard in the North as she awaits the return of Conrad Drebert, whom she plans to marry. Alma, who also loves him, is not above scheming to influence the outcome: when Larry, Alma’s stepbrother, tries to win Sylvia’s affections, she rebuffs him. After a high-stakes poker game, Larry kills a professional gambler who had cheated him. Alma arranges for Sylvia to be caught in a seemingly compromising situation by Conrad when he returns, setting a trap to push them apart. Conrad begins to strangle Sylvia, but Alma intervenes, and the incident drives Conrad to flee to Brazil. Sylvia returns to the South, carrying the weight of these tangled events.

Sylvia’s path then leads her to Rev. Wilson Jacobs, a minister who operates Piney Woods School, a rural institution for Black children that is overcrowded and underfunded. The school faces closure due to insufficient state support for Black education, so Sylvia volunteers to go back to the North to raise new funds, aiming for a goal of $5,000 to keep the school open and thriving.

In Boston, Sylvia’s purse is stolen, triggering a sequence that underscores the film’s social themes. A man named Dr. V. Vivian chases the thief and recovers the purse. While saving a child from traffic, Sylvia herself is struck by a car. Recovering in the hospital, she meets the car’s owner, Elena Warwick, a wealthy philanthropist who, moved by Sylvia’s mission, decides to help. Elena increases her donation after advice from her Southern friend Mrs. Stratton, and the amount swells to $50,000, a sum large enough to guarantee the school’s survival. Sylvia then returns to the South, hopeful.

Back home, [Rev. Wilson Jacobs] asks for Sylvia’s hand in marriage, but she, now in love with Dr. V. Vivian, refuses. Meanwhile, [Larry] encounters Sylvia again, intending to blackmail her with secrets from her past as he hides from the police. Rather than letting those secrets be exposed to the school, Sylvia flees in the night and heads north once more. Dr. Vivian, not far behind, searches for her, while Larry—broke and back with Alma—meets a violent end during a bank robbery; Dr. Vivian happens to treat him and, in the process, meets Alma. Alma then shares Sylvia’s hidden past with Dr. Vivian, and the film presents these revelations as flashbacks that recount a life Sylvia tried to leave behind.

The backstory reveals that Sylvia was adopted and raised by a poor Black family, the Landrys, who nevertheless managed to provide her with an education. During her youth, her father, Jasper Landry, was falsely accused of murdering Philip Gridlestone, a wealthy white landlord. A white mob attacked the Landry family, killing her parents and burning their bodies. Their young son, Emil Landry, escaped, though the mob also murdered Efrem, who had cooperated with them. A violent encounter with Armand Gridlestone, Philip’s brother, nearly led to Sylvia’s assault, and Armand’s later realization that Sylvia is his mixed-race daughter—born of his marriage to a local Black woman and supported with education—adds a final, tragic layer to the family history.

With these revelations laid bare, Dr. Vivian resolves to help Sylvia embrace her country and take pride in the contributions of African Americans. He expresses his love for her, and the two eventually marry, uniting their lives and their shared commitment to a broader, hopeful future.