Examining the historical reality of American slavery
Homework: Hollywood and Slavery
Directions: Complete the reading listed below. Then type out your answers to the questions. You should submit your answers to Canvass and be prepared to discuss your answers to these questions in class on the day they are due.
Watch ONE of the following movies:
1. 12 Years a Slave (2013)
2. Birth of a Nation (2013)
3. Get Out (2017)
4. Us (2019)
* ANY other movie about American slavery you think would be appropriate to examine.
Homework Assignment:
Hollywood has recently made a big push into examining the historical reality of American slavery, the Civil War and the modern civil rights movement. The films on American slavery are based on primary source material, including the Confessions of Nat Turner (1831) and the Solomon Northup autobiography. 12 Years a Slave. While the films are not primary sources, they do play a powerful role in shaping how we today think about the era of antebellum slavery.
For this assignment, reflect on ONE of the following questions
(take about a paragraph to a page to answer this question)
1. Which story/tale/document offers the most compelling vision of American slavery and why?
2. Which story seems the most honest and why?
3. How are Nat Turner and Solomon Northup similar and different?
4) How do the different Nat Turners we have encountered differ? What accounts for their difference?
5) How is the Nat Turner we encounter in the Confessions different from the one we see in the movie Birth of a Nation?
6) Get Out and Us are not films about American slavery (or are they?). What comment do these films offer on the history and legacy of slavery in America?
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