Throughout time, there has been many movies and series created that highlights and brings awareness to American Slavery. Some of these are Amistad, Roots, Django, and 12 years a Slave just to name a few.
2016 looks to be a year that highlights the story of the slave and I think this very action is very important and definitely needed in our society.
The history of slavery is a dark one from our nation’s past that many present day folks like to pretend does not exist or that it did not happen. Slavery has even been identified in some American textbooks as something that Africans volunteered to do, or that the experience was somewhat pleasant. Other textbooks skip over the history of Slavery completely as if that wasn’t one of the main causes of the American Civil War.
The History of Slavery needs to be told for multiple reasons.
1) The fact that slavery occurred needs to always be acknowledged and never sugar coated
2) The acts of slavery plays a vital role in the current state of America and the Black Community. specifically the division we have within the nation and the division that can be seen within the black community when it comes to overcoming colorism.
3. The current distrust that minorities have towards police officers, also can be tied back to the original police force which was the slave catchers who’s sole job was to police minorities.
4. The acts that Blacks endured during slavery contributed to making us such the strong race that we are today. Slave masters use to breed the strongest man with the strong woman with the intent to produce strong off springs. This could be why physically some of the best Athletes in America are of African descent.
The SLAVE has a voice and a story that needs to be told. Although the history of slavery was brutal and sometimes hard to tolerate, we need to know and understand how breaking up slave families, effects the current broken black families in America. We need to know why theirs a rift between lighter skinned blacks and those of darker complexions. We need to understand why black women are so tough and sometimes hard, and that’s can simply be because throughout American History the black woman endured beatings, rape, and seeing her family torn apart. Slavery had a cause and effect and that we still are able to feel today.
About a week ago a new SLAVE series premiered on WGN entitled UNDERGROUND. John Legend is one of the Executive Producers, and the narrative focuses and highlights the slaves seeking out their FREEDOM.
Additionally there will be a remake of Alex Haley’s mini series ROOTS hitting the scene soon. ROOTS was definitely a slave story that had me in tears. I cried quite a bit when I watched the original ROOTS series, therefore I know going into watching the remake I need to be fully prepared.
I definitely think overall we as Americans should support the story of the slave. We watch horror movies and action movies where individuals are murdered and killed, so why not pay tribute to the nation’s history, embrace what the ancestors of blacks endured, and learn to understand how Slavery still effects America in modern day society.
