King Vidor had been hoping to make the film for several years, and jumped at the chance to make it with the advent of sound. He so wanted to produce the picture that he offered to give up his salary.
Assistant director Harold Garrison reportedly recruited around 340 African American Los Angeles residents to participate in this film as extras.
Although this film is frequently touted as the first black-cast film produced in Hollywood, it is actually predated by the more obscure Hearts in Dixie (1929).