Slavery in America is one of the most controversial and misunderstood topics. The documentary Unchained Memories is a valuable film that depicts the reality of slavery. This documentary is a collection of interviews of ex-slaves, the documentary tells personal stories of life on the plantation. These personal narratives tell the uncensored truth of a time which is only briefly mentioned in most history books and gives first-hand examples of the hardships endured by the slaves. The documentary had a small but important impact on my knowledge of American Slavery. Prior to watching the film, I was already aware of some details of slavery and had a decent understanding of the hardships the endured. The documentary added a to my knowledge with the personal accounts of events the ex-slaves had. The documentary provided more examples of the harsh reality of slaving and shed light on the people's true emotions towards slavery and their freedom. The story of Rosa Maddox is a prime example, …show more content…
The main reason I believe the film is accurate is because in between stories you see the actors and I assume film writers making clarifications in order to depict the stories correctly. Another factor I noticed is the pictures that were used. There were more original photos of slaves than the typical drawings that are used. One picture that stood out the most, was of the books that tracked how much each slave was sold for and their different specialties. This documentary was informative and eye-opening. The film not only presents the facts but it is in touch with the emotions of the people. This film is the first I’ve seen that has touched more than the surface of slavery and it made me feel connected to these slaves. In conclusion, I believe this was an amazing film and I appreciate the effort they put into getting an accurate depiction of each
Of all the terrible events in history, the Holocaust may be the worst of them all. This tragedy was so terrible, I cannot think of the ones who instigated it as human beings. It was against many morals and standards that the world views today as common ethics. The most terrible part of this is, perhaps, how today’s new and younger generations are not sufficiently educated about this disaster. Although many younger generations do not know about the Holocaust, it’s importance should be emphasised in today’s society to learn from it, to realize that every human life is important, and to appreciate the blessings of the present day.
Overall, I thought this film was very informative and I learned a lot. It was very interesting. The film opened my eyes to a new world that I had never seen before. It informed me on history that I had no idea about.
What was never presented was the point of view from the African Americans because it was seemingly dismissed. It was eye-opening to read about the experience from an African’s perspective because it brought a whole new light to my understanding of what it meant to be a slave and the struggles black Americans face here in the US, even
Additionally, agony was dealt with and misery happened behind the scenes of the slave’s lives, similar to Tom Robinson and the “Scottsboro Boys” in which both were African-American and how
When discussing slave and neo slave narratives and films, it’s essential to understand the audience that the film or narrative is targeting. With the importance of the audience comes the larger question of the purpose of the work itself. In “Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” and “Superfly” the purpose of these works exemplifies black representation and the journey of rising in the American class system. With careful consideration from both works, the message that a political and cultural change was vital in order to allow blacks to not only be represented properly but to gain personal freedom. Despite that personal freedom for Youngblood Priest and Frederick Douglass was different, both endured the racial oppression
It's important to not only show the plantations of hundreds of slaves forced to work against their will but also the inhumane treatment, and the mental and physical abuse they endured. The film accomplished its overall goal of opening the viewer treatment slaves faced. From when Esther was raped by a white man, to when Nat found that Cherry had been attacked and assaulted by a group of men. The film did an amazing job portraying emotions through the character's facial expressions, as well as the music and color choices in specific scenes. The humiliation and shame Esther felt were heartbreaking to watch and the music and dark colors in the scene made the time even sadder and more impactful.
There is still such a false concept floating around about slavery, even in the twenty-first century. I enjoy reading articles and documents, like the ones provided for this essay, to properly give me an idea of what slavery was like when our ancestors were around. Slavery, even today in schools, is not taught how it should be. Many people, especially in the South, try to ignore slavery as if it never existed, when it is definitely a part of our history. I think there is a falseness, on both ends of slavery, that many people do not talk about; these documents showed me just that.
Attended: Blood on the Mountain, February 21, 2017 On February 21, 2017, I attended the documentary film: Blood on the Mountain. This documentary film described the lives of coal miners in West Virginia, it showed the hardships coal miners went through to keep their jobs and their health safe from mining corporations. In relation to my class: Appalachia Studies I understood these hardships, it also made me aware of how these hardships affect the Appalachia region and the families of the coal miners. Despite understanding some of these hardships I will never be able to describe these hardships fully in their entirety, but I can relate these hardships to the course, Appalachia Studies to the best of my abilities.
The Abolitionists Growing up as a Christian I never could understand how people claimed to be saved or god’s servant but yet can discriminate against skin color. I was taught God is of love regardless of skin color, size or how the person looks. Such as Caucasians with African Americans and even so how could they attend church but yet have slave servants in their home? As shown in the documentary most of the film was a conflict about slavery and the few whites that was against it. Such as “Angelina Grimké” a Caucasians female Christian who despised slavery and watch her parents live with it with no moral or self-respected.
12 Years A Slave Do you care about human rights? Do you feel like injustice, racism and oppression has been and still is a huge issue in America? And most importantly, do you care about the cruel and brutal history of slavery and the consequences it has had for the future generations of African Americans? If the answer is yes to all of the above, then it is an absolute necessity for you to watch the movie 12 Years A Slave!
This opened the eyes of ordinary Americans and was yet another way African Americans helped themselves tremendously. Overall, there are still many ways African Americans fought for their freedom witht the help from
1.) Many historians have called Thomas Jefferson in terms of his life and work an “enigma” due to how difficult it is to understand his character. As one of the most prominent figures in American history, Jefferson represents more than himself; he represents an ideal. Despite what he has said, his actions are irregular enough to raise questions. In the Thomas Jefferson documentary by Ken Burns, the main controversy was his silence on slavery.
For example, sanitation workers had to carry bags of garbage that had holes in them and since they were paid low wages, they ended up poor on welfare. Not only was this film was a way of seeing another turning point during the civil rights movement but also, African Americans fighting for justice. Even though I was not born during that time, I can understand how they felt because it wasn’t that easy. In today’s society racism isn’t as bad as what it was during that time. Besides we still have times were we face racism in our lives so I would say in some areas racism is still a
Unchained Memories Review The documentary Unchained Memories were reading by African American actors and actresses from the last generation of born into slavery slaves and their experiences as slaves, their treatment as slaves, and the culture of the time. This documentary really stood out from other documentary and movies because these narratives were from actual slaves and none of the slaves had the same or even similar experiences. These narratives are so precious that they are held in the Library of Congress. Unchained Memories helped better my knowledge of the history of slavery in America because it solidified how hard the slaves were worked and how awful they were treated.
This film shows the true layers that black women can have in films that is past the stereotypical The sassy black friend The ghetto black women The angry black woman storyline can only be done so many times. Seeing black women as strong and highly intelligent individuals in films and how this needed to related to real life. How this can be connected to the short book We Should All be Feminists, is