BelowTheMasonDixon
Veteran
Oh indeed and the only reason it was actually made was because even though Northup story was important the fact that he was essentially rescued by a white savior made it get the green light.
Im Sorry But the LAST Thing the Black Community Needs Is Yet Another Slave Movie
- Thread starter PhonZhi
- Start date
Oh indeed and the only reason it was actually made was because even though Northup story was important the fact that he was essentially rescued by a white savior made it get the green light.
Larry Lambo
Superstar
I haven't watched most of these slave movies anyway (Glory was pretty good), so I have no opinion.
Wouldn't mind watching a little bit of Roots because it's a classic.
Wouldn't mind watching a little bit of Roots because it's a classic.
BelowTheMasonDixon
Veteran
For something as long and significant there should be WAY more slave films. Honestly we should have a shyt load of biopics about that era, from films about Fredrick Douglass, to Dred Scott to Harriet Tubman to Henry "Box" Brown.
Taadow
The StarchBishop™️
I dapped this and it's true...
...but I cringed when I thought about when they make those Egypt movies and the Pharoahs are black, and they're whooping black slaves.
BelowTheMasonDixon
Veteran
Look at how brave and amazing the people and there stories were.
Henry “Box” Brown
After his wife and children were sold and shipped away to another state in 1848, Virginia-born Henry Brown resolved to escape slavery by any means necessary. With the help of a free black and a white shopkeeper, he hatched a desperate plan to ship himself from Richmond to Philadelphia in a wooden crate. On March 23, 1849, Brown wedged himself into a three by two foot box labeled “dry goods” and settled in for a long journey via wagon, steamboat and railroad to the home of abolitionist James Miller McKim. He only had a few biscuits and some water as supplies, and during one leg of the trip, his crate was placed upside down on the deck of a steamship. Brown was left sitting on his head for 90 minutes, his eyes “swelling as if they would burst from their sockets.” He nearly passed out before two unsuspecting passengers flipped the box over to use it as a seat.
Brown arrived safely in Philadelphia after 27 grueling hours inside the cramped confines of the box. His incredible story made him a minor celebrity in New England, but he was soon forced to flee the country after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. “Box” Brown later spent several years in Great Britain hosting a stage act that documented his escape. He eventually returned to the United States in 1875 and worked as a magician. As part of each show, he would climb into the same wooden crate that had once carried him to freedom.
Robert Smalls
Robert Smalls’ incredible flight to freedom began in 1862, when he was working as a wheelman aboard the Confederate steamer CSS Planter in Charleston, South Carolina. When the Planter’s white crew took an unauthorized shore leave in the early hours of May 13, Smalls and several accomplices sprang into action. After commandeering the ship, the slaves picked up their families at a rendezvous point and steamed into Charleston Harbor with Smalls at the helm disguised in the captain’s coat and hat. Smalls knew both the ship and the mine-infested harbor like the back of his hand, and he was able to give the proper signals to win safe passage by Fort Sumter. Once out of the Confederate guns’ firing range, he poured on the speed and made a mad dash for the Union blockade. Arriving under the white flag of surrender, the crew of runaways joyously offered up their ship to first U.S. Navy vessel they encountered. “Good morning, sir!” Smalls shouted to the astonished captain. “I have brought you some of the old United States’ guns, sir!”
Smalls and his fellow escapees were hailed as heroes in the North, and their courage and cunning were held up as evidence that blacks could make good soldiers. Smalls later helped recruit as many as 5,000 blacks for the Union war effort, and served as the pilot and then later the captain of the Planter after it was refitted as a U.S. Navy vessel. After the war, he returned to South Carolina, bought his former master’s house and went on to serve several terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Harriet Jacobs
For Harriet Jacobs, escaping slavery meant hiding for several years in a prison of her own devising. Born a slave in North Carolina, Jacobs spent her teenage years living in fear of a cruel master who refused to let her marry and made repeated and increasingly brutal sexual advances toward her. When the harassment continued even after Jacobs had two children by another man, she resolved to make a break for freedom. In 1835, she fled her plantation and briefly hid in some friends’ houses. Knowing her chances of making it to the North were slim, she eventually holed up in a small attic crawlspace in her grandmother’s home. The rat-infested room was tiny—only nine feet long and seven feet wide, with a sloping ceiling that never reached higher than three feet—and Jacobs later wrote that it offered “no admission for either light or air.” Nevertheless, she would spend an astonishing seven years living in the coffin-like space, watching her children play in the yard through a small peephole and only leaving for brief periods of nighttime exercise.
Jacobs finally made her escape to the North in 1842, after a friend helped her secure passage on a boat bound for Philadelphia. From there, she proceeded by train to New York and reunited with family members. She spent the next few years working in New York and Boston, but remained wary of being captured by her former master until friends helped arrange her purchase and manumission. Jacobs later became an influential abolitionist and published a searing account of her ordeal called “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.”
William and Ellen Craft
For sheer creativity and daring, few slave escapes can match the 1848 getaway masterminded by William and Ellen Craft. The two had married in Macon, Georgia, in 1846, but were held in slavery by different masters. Terrified of being separated, they devised an ingenious plan to flee the Deep South for Philadelphia. The light-skinned Ellen cut her hair short, dressed herself in men’s clothing and wrapped her head in bandages to pose as an injured white man. William, meanwhile, assumed the role of her loyal black manservant. On December 21, 1848, the Crafts donned their disguises and boarded a train to begin the long journey North. The scheme seemed doomed from the very start after Ellen found herself sitting next to a close friend of her master, but her elaborate costume prevented her from being recognized.
The Crafts spent the next several days traveling by train and steamer through the South, lodging in fine hotels and rubbing elbows with upper class whites to maintain their cover. Since she could not read or write, Ellen placed her arm in a sling to avoid signing tickets and papers, but her ruse was nearly found out when a Charleston steamer clerk refused to sell the pair their tickets without a signature. Luckily for the Crafts, the captain of their previous ship happened to pass by and agreed to sign for her. The Crafts arrived in Philadelphia on Christmas Day and were sheltered by abolitionists before continuing on to Boston. Fearing slave hunters, the couple later set sail for England, where they wrote a popular account of their escape and raised a family.
These shyts deserve to be told.
Henry “Box” Brown
After his wife and children were sold and shipped away to another state in 1848, Virginia-born Henry Brown resolved to escape slavery by any means necessary. With the help of a free black and a white shopkeeper, he hatched a desperate plan to ship himself from Richmond to Philadelphia in a wooden crate. On March 23, 1849, Brown wedged himself into a three by two foot box labeled “dry goods” and settled in for a long journey via wagon, steamboat and railroad to the home of abolitionist James Miller McKim. He only had a few biscuits and some water as supplies, and during one leg of the trip, his crate was placed upside down on the deck of a steamship. Brown was left sitting on his head for 90 minutes, his eyes “swelling as if they would burst from their sockets.” He nearly passed out before two unsuspecting passengers flipped the box over to use it as a seat.
Brown arrived safely in Philadelphia after 27 grueling hours inside the cramped confines of the box. His incredible story made him a minor celebrity in New England, but he was soon forced to flee the country after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. “Box” Brown later spent several years in Great Britain hosting a stage act that documented his escape. He eventually returned to the United States in 1875 and worked as a magician. As part of each show, he would climb into the same wooden crate that had once carried him to freedom.
Robert Smalls
Robert Smalls’ incredible flight to freedom began in 1862, when he was working as a wheelman aboard the Confederate steamer CSS Planter in Charleston, South Carolina. When the Planter’s white crew took an unauthorized shore leave in the early hours of May 13, Smalls and several accomplices sprang into action. After commandeering the ship, the slaves picked up their families at a rendezvous point and steamed into Charleston Harbor with Smalls at the helm disguised in the captain’s coat and hat. Smalls knew both the ship and the mine-infested harbor like the back of his hand, and he was able to give the proper signals to win safe passage by Fort Sumter. Once out of the Confederate guns’ firing range, he poured on the speed and made a mad dash for the Union blockade. Arriving under the white flag of surrender, the crew of runaways joyously offered up their ship to first U.S. Navy vessel they encountered. “Good morning, sir!” Smalls shouted to the astonished captain. “I have brought you some of the old United States’ guns, sir!”
Smalls and his fellow escapees were hailed as heroes in the North, and their courage and cunning were held up as evidence that blacks could make good soldiers. Smalls later helped recruit as many as 5,000 blacks for the Union war effort, and served as the pilot and then later the captain of the Planter after it was refitted as a U.S. Navy vessel. After the war, he returned to South Carolina, bought his former master’s house and went on to serve several terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Harriet Jacobs
For Harriet Jacobs, escaping slavery meant hiding for several years in a prison of her own devising. Born a slave in North Carolina, Jacobs spent her teenage years living in fear of a cruel master who refused to let her marry and made repeated and increasingly brutal sexual advances toward her. When the harassment continued even after Jacobs had two children by another man, she resolved to make a break for freedom. In 1835, she fled her plantation and briefly hid in some friends’ houses. Knowing her chances of making it to the North were slim, she eventually holed up in a small attic crawlspace in her grandmother’s home. The rat-infested room was tiny—only nine feet long and seven feet wide, with a sloping ceiling that never reached higher than three feet—and Jacobs later wrote that it offered “no admission for either light or air.” Nevertheless, she would spend an astonishing seven years living in the coffin-like space, watching her children play in the yard through a small peephole and only leaving for brief periods of nighttime exercise.
Jacobs finally made her escape to the North in 1842, after a friend helped her secure passage on a boat bound for Philadelphia. From there, she proceeded by train to New York and reunited with family members. She spent the next few years working in New York and Boston, but remained wary of being captured by her former master until friends helped arrange her purchase and manumission. Jacobs later became an influential abolitionist and published a searing account of her ordeal called “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.”
William and Ellen Craft
For sheer creativity and daring, few slave escapes can match the 1848 getaway masterminded by William and Ellen Craft. The two had married in Macon, Georgia, in 1846, but were held in slavery by different masters. Terrified of being separated, they devised an ingenious plan to flee the Deep South for Philadelphia. The light-skinned Ellen cut her hair short, dressed herself in men’s clothing and wrapped her head in bandages to pose as an injured white man. William, meanwhile, assumed the role of her loyal black manservant. On December 21, 1848, the Crafts donned their disguises and boarded a train to begin the long journey North. The scheme seemed doomed from the very start after Ellen found herself sitting next to a close friend of her master, but her elaborate costume prevented her from being recognized.
The Crafts spent the next several days traveling by train and steamer through the South, lodging in fine hotels and rubbing elbows with upper class whites to maintain their cover. Since she could not read or write, Ellen placed her arm in a sling to avoid signing tickets and papers, but her ruse was nearly found out when a Charleston steamer clerk refused to sell the pair their tickets without a signature. Luckily for the Crafts, the captain of their previous ship happened to pass by and agreed to sign for her. The Crafts arrived in Philadelphia on Christmas Day and were sheltered by abolitionists before continuing on to Boston. Fearing slave hunters, the couple later set sail for England, where they wrote a popular account of their escape and raised a family.
These shyts deserve to be told.
Man On Fire
All Star
I randomly had this thought out the blue last week about the psychological affects of constantly seeing ourselves as subservient, docile, and conquered. I was wondering if seeing ourselves in this position REPEATEDLY is healthy for our overall self-esteem and how we feel about ourselves.
Then I heard earlier today that a ROOTS remake is about to air. I looked it up and also came across a slave tv show called Underground. I don't watch much tv so I had no idea about these shows.
Anyways back to the subject. I am in no way saying that we should forget our history, matter fact the key to "change" IS becoming knowledgeable about our past history and learning about the tactics used to intentionally keep the black race as 2nd class citizens. Knowledge is the key.
But with that said, I'm starting to feel that constantly seeing ourselves in an INFERIOR position such as slavery is helping to keep our own self-esteem at a certain level subconsciously.
Many black people think that slavery was our beginning. They have zero knowledge of anything beforehand. We're only seeing ourselves as either being conquered/enslaved or begging for equal/fair treatment. Anyone else getn tired of that shyt??
What this also does is reinforce the whole "white man is superior" concept. Along with those types of movies, the white man also portrays himself as the "ideal" man. Think about it. All the superhero characters are white. Most "successful" characters like doctors, lawyers, ect are white also. All of this combined keeps the white man as the superior race image-wise. Of course they own and dictate the media which means that they control not only their own image but ours also, which led me to thinking WHY does it seem like every year there's yet another movie about black people in chains in an inferior position under the white mans rule.
Anybody else feel the same or similar?
I saw the original Roots when it came out in the 70s brehs
After I saw 12 Years A Slave I decided to never watch another slave movie again
There A LOT of stories that still need to be told about slavery. I recently watched Many Rivers to Cross on Netflix. There was plenty I didn't know about that was discussed.
And after watching I didn't come away feeling inferior at all. The way Black people fought, adapted, SURVIVED every act of inhumanity cacs committed against us...
every ridiculous, draconian law passed in attempts to stop our progress was inspiring to me. I just think it's how the stories are told
BelowTheMasonDixon
Veteran
Any form of slavery depicted is going to be brutal. But keep in mind those slaves could earn freedom, rank and power. unlike chattel slavery.
Taadow
The StarchBishop™️
Ol’Otis
The Picasso of the Ghetto
It gives cacs nostalgia to see slave movies
BelowTheMasonDixon
Veteran
Ya'll really think that? Ya'll thinking white people going to see slavery movies on some MAN I HOPE THE CONFEDERATE WINS THIS TIME or THAT ****** ALWAYS ESCAPES AT THE END. lol, meanwhile Black folks not even going to see them shyts. "I don't wanna see another slavery film, fukk that shyt". yall wild.
Ol’Otis
The Picasso of the Ghetto
AgreedYou really believe this? Like seriously. what percentage of "African American's" do you really think have heard of these people you speak of? Ya'll don't want slavery films but ya'll are completely lost if you believe most African Americans know their own history. It's probably mo nikkas think Django was a historical film than have ever even heard of Mansa Musa or Fredrick Douglass.
We had our share of inspirational films and black peoples didn't fukk with em
Ol’Otis
The Picasso of the Ghetto
Ok
No need to yell
BelowTheMasonDixon
Veteran
Ok
No need to yell[/QUOTE]
