In the movies 12 Years a slave, and Glory, both convey the hardships of slavery and the fight against it that the African-americans and northerners had to endure. 12 years a Slave reminds us how infrequently stories about slavery have been told and that's why the movie did so well all over the world. The movie is extremely accurate on how slaves were treated, and even how men would kidnap free men to become slaves. Slavery started in Britain and then taken up by many other countries looking at britain as an influencer. Slave trade was a legal and common feature of society. Slavery was most popular in Europe because of the close proximity to Africa. The european governments saw blacks in africa as a limitless source of free labor. When the colonies were started in the United States, with the people came slaves.
Because of the inhumane treatment seen by parliament, Britain abolished slave trade in 1807 and banned slavery in 1833. The Royal Navy was to use force on any allies that continued slave trade except the United States. “Slavery can only continue when social norms in support of slavery are strong” (prohibition regimes). Because of normality of slavery in the south it continued even though some people did not agree on it. In 12 Years a Slave, Solomon's first “master,” Mr. Ford, didn’t appear to be sold into slavery but used slaves because it was a norm and necessity in the south. Most slaves that escaped and wrote about their experiences saw how much the white men had control over everything. In the south, it was “their judges, their courts of law, their representatives and legislators” (beyond black and white). Slavery was not a well liked things by the north, and the slaves. Because of the large disagreement in the south, a civil war took place.
It took a bloody civil war to end slavery in the United States. Glory, in great detail, talks about the fighting of the Massachusetts 54th regiment and the unfair treatment they received just because of their color. The North was trying to free slaves in the south, but even then most of the men were biased towards the white soldiers opposed to black ones. After the battle of Fort- Wagner, 178, 895 African americans volunteered to be in the union army, and over ⅓ of the 3,222 casualties in the navy were black. The Massachusetts 54th inspired many to fight for what was right, but even while fighting, the white men still segregated the units. Military units remained segregated until the Korean war. The movie and director were able to keep the theme of unfair treatment continued throughout the movie.
In the Massachusetts 54 regiment, the men were given lower pay, old or bad shoes, and no official uniform. In the group of soldiers, they were all forced to sleep in small tents with multiple people and may rumored that they wouldn't even be able to fight, but just do manual labor. Although this happened in the movie, many thought this during their time in the regiment. The men did not receive the proper training and were threatened by the Confederate Congress that any black man with a weapon or in uniform will be tried of treason and put to death. The men believed in what they were fighting for and wanted the same chances as the white men in the union. The black unit did not actually earn the respect of their fellow union soldiers until the regiment led the attack on Fort Wagner. “The attack on Fort Wagner… comes as close to anything I’ve ever seen on screen to capturing the chaos and brutality that were particular to the Civil War battles” (New York Times). Glory was a great movie on how the regiment was treated and what kind of action they saw. Because of the two- hour time frame, the most important events of the regiment were portrayed. One being Fort- Wagner and another being the regiment meeting up with another and being forced to set Darien, Georgia, a small town, on fire.
These movies provided new insights to me that had never occurred to me. The frequency of men being kidnapped for slavery had never crossed my mind. The harshness of the way slaves were treated had never seemed real, and almost seemed impossible. The concept of not everyone in the south was for slavery was never an aspect to my mind, Because of 12 Years a Slave, and Glory, the reality of the the civil war, slavery and the events surrounding it provided me new information that without the visuals of the movie, I probably would’ve never known or looked into.
Works Cited:
Nadelmann,
Ethan A. "Global Prohibition Regimes: The Evolution of Norms in
International Society." International Organization 44.4 (1990):
479-526. Web.
Gross,
Ariela. "Beyond Black and White: Cultural Approaches to Race and
Slavery." Columbia Law Review 101.3 (2001): 640-90. Web.
Canby, Vincent. "Review/Film; Black Combat Bravery in the Civil War." Nytimes.com. N.p., 14 Dec. 1989. Web. 28 Sept. 2016.
Pictures:
@Cenantua. "Georgia on My Mind… and a Different Sort of Southern Unionist." Cenantuas Blog. N.p., 18 Jan. 2013. Web. 28 Sept. 2016.
@ATLBlackStar. "European Nations Attempt to Evade Reparations." Atlanta Black Star. N.p., 13 Jan. 2014. Web. 28 Sept. 2016.
Landrigan, Leslie. "The Hope and Glory of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment - New England Historical Society." New England Historical Society ICal. N.p., 28 May 2015. Web. 28 Sept. 2016.
