A novel organic light-emitting pixel structure provides improved contrast pixels suitable for use in high-contrast passive- and active-matrix displays. A dark, low-reflectance film is placed on a reflective or transparent substrate, which acts to absorb and/or trap ambient light impinging on the pixel and improving its contrast between on and off states. Optical scattering is reduced by fabricating a vertical wall around each pixel which effectively blocks out light emitted from adjacent pixels, and prevents the scattering of the pixel's own emitted light. Light is emitted through a transparent upper electrode, which allows the substrate to be non-transparent. An active-matrix display is thus built on a single silicon substrate, with the crystalline silicon transistors needed to drive the active-matrix fabricated alongside their respective pixels, and with the walls surrounding the pixels formed from the drive circuitry itself.