William D. Alexander worked in the Office of War Information (OWI) during World War II, documenting the concerns of Black American soldiers overseas and creating newsreels for Black theaters. He produced more than 250 newsreels during his time at All-American News, some of which were criticized by audiences for not reflecting the realities of the lives of Black soldiers at war, most especially the racism they faced in the army. After the OWI was dissolved in 1945, he opened his own film company, Alexander Productions. In the style of the popular gangster films of the decade, Souls of Sin tells the story of an unsuccessful gambler who shares a rundown basement apartment in New York with two roommates. Desperate to start a new life, he begins selling drugs to earn a living. This collage-style window card showing the male lead holding a smoking gun clearly situates the film in the gangster genre. But its storyline is actually even darker than this image suggests, and marks a shift in the way Black gangsters were represented by Black filmmakers. Most significantly, it addresses drug dealing and use as horrible realities of Black urban life. Souls of Sin is considered the last race film created by a Black director (Powell Lindsay).