I believe that the movie Amistad is excellent movie, but very historical. It is done in a way for everyone to understand it. It is ironical that the name of the ship was Amistad,
which means friendship, totally contrary to what was happening. This movie shows the
way slaves were treated and how the American judicial system worked at that time.
The movie starts in a ship “La Amistad” a slave named Cinque, frees himself from his
chains and frees the rest of his tribe, the African slaves then kill their captors, the Spanish
but they did spare the lives of two Spaniards who were needed to help navigate the
ship back to Africa. After 6 weeks an American ship finds them and tows the slave ship into
a New England port were they are
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The court has to decide if the slaves were legal slaves from Cuba or
illegally brought from Africa. If the slaves were legal slaves they could be charged with
murder, but if they were illegally brought from Africa they could be free and return
home.
In court everyone wanted the slaves; two abolitionists were there too and
wanted to help the slaves, Tappan and Joadson. Baldwin was a good lawyer for the
slaves, he said born salves could be sold if they came from a plantation unlike illegally
acquired slaves could no longer be slaves under law. The slaves were thought of as
livestock and not people. Baldwin wanted to prove that these people weren’t legal
slaves but slaves illegally acquired. He tried to talk to them, at first speaking in English
then Spanish if they had come from Cuba they would know Spanish. The basic legal
issues in the movie are that slaves were being brought to America illegally, being
brought from Africa when there was a law against that. Language was a very big
barrier because Baldwin couldn’t communicate with the Africans, but this shows how
even though the language is not the same you can . Baldwin tries to talk to
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Not many people in the 19th century would offer their help like this and
some others would quit when they found out that the president was doing everything in
his power not to let these people be free. I think that without Baldwin and maybe with
someone who didn’t really care about the Africans the slaves would have probably
gone back to Cuba or had been killed. Cinque and Baldwin had a connection, some
kind of trust for each other.
I think that the movie was really good. It’s good to know about the history of this
country and how slavery was a horrible thing and that it should never be repeated. It
shows how slaves were beaten, killed and looked as not humans but possessions. They
way they were treated was horrible and there is no excuse for what was done to them.
Watching the movie shows you how it really was during that time, how slaves suffered
and didn’t own their own lives. The way people in power would rather have their
reputation then follow the law as President Van Buren did, hoping to get re-elected. A
lot of people didn’t agree about slavery and Van Buren thought that by keeping
everyone happy would secure him his second term as president. But the Supreme
important event and part of slavery that should have been shown in the movie. Even though I
It shows that Negros were able to purchase their freedom and purchase the freedom of their family members. It shows a sense of equality in the way that free blacks could go to court and potentially win cases against white farmers. Free blacks owning slaves and indentured servants, some of which were white, could also be seen as equality. It also shows how free blacks had a thought of a future in the way that they drew up wills in which their family members were granted land and livestock. Knowing that white farming landowners and free blacks lived together in a sense of harmony goes back to the main theme of Myne Owne Ground. It shows that slavery is indeed an embarrassment to our nation. Knowing that blacks and whites were able to live together, trade, and be civil towards each other shows that slavery was unfounded and not
In 1997 a movie called Amistad depicted the true story of a group of Africans that were taken from their families and forced into slavery. Although the movie was heavily criticized for it's inaccurate tale of the terrible ordeal, it gave the story world-renowned attention. The real story had more drama and tearjerker parts then the movie did. If the movie ever gets remade, hopefully this time it follows the facts exactly.
After watching the movie I have a new found respect for blacks who endured racial prejudice and were subject to the mistreatment because of their skin color. The movie made me feel really sad and it gave me visual of what may have taken place in Rosewood, Florida. The violence that the people suffered was hurtful to watch and unimaginable. Reading the report does not have the same effect of the movie because in the movie actually has a more vivid idea of the violence that occurred.
Baldwin makes people see the flaws in our society by comparing it to Europe. Whether we decide to take it as an example to change to, or follow our American mindset and take this as the biased piece that it is and still claim that we are the best country in the world, disregard his words and continue with our strive for
Baldwin’s father died a broken and ruined man on July 29th, 1943. This only paralleled the chaos occurring around him at the time, such as the race riots of Detroit and Harlem which Baldwin describes to be as “spoils of injustice, anarchy, discontent, and hatred.” (63) His father was born in New Orleans, the first generation of “free men” in a land where “opportunities, real and fancied, are thicker than anywhere else.” (63) Although free from slavery, African-Americans still faced the hardships of racism and were still oppressed from any opportunities, which is a factor that led Baldwin’s father to going mad and eventually being committed. Baldwin would also later learn how “…white people would do anything to keep a Negro down.” (68) For a preacher, there was little trust and faith his father ...
Amistad is about a mutiny in 1839 aboard a slave ship, La Amistad, which eventually comes to port in New England. The West Africans who have commandeered the ship are taken into custody and the plot revolves around who "owns" them or if, indeed, they should be freed. This sets up the main event of the film, a courtroom drama about rights and origins, with the required flashbacks to the voyage and the gruesome conditions aboard the ship. The problem with this approach is that we learn less about the real conditions of slavery and instead focus on the more sanitized conditions surrounding the courtroom. In addition, we get a film which is largely about the efforts of the whites battling the case and much less about the struggles of the Africans themselves.
Eventually, although he was being torn somewhat from his natural talents for writing, he was preaching about the human rights of all people to enjoy equal treatment. A speaker in the film called it the “Gospel of revolution”, which relates to the hope that his father originally wanted for his life. Baldwin wrote a book he called “The Fire Next Time” which intended to communicate to white Americans what it is to be Black. This book tells the story of how Black people needed to teach white people who were willing to learn about the Black experience so that they would understand what it meant to live as a Black person in the United States. Baldwin talked about the ways in which White organizations had a tendency to keep out Black Americans, making his point that the experience of being Black was very different than that of being White. Because they did not have access to unions, houses and neighborhoods, and a variety of different points of access that Whites had, it was clear that they were constantly being told that they were unwanted and would not have
Before he talked about African-American culture he first talked about French speaking people. Saying, “A Frenchman living in Paris speaks a subtly and crucially different language from that of the man living in Marseilles; neither sounds very much like a man living in Quebec; and they would all have great difficulty in apprehending what the man from Guadeloupe, or Martinique, is saying, to say nothing of the man from Senegal--although the"common" language of all these areas is French.”(Baldwin, paragraph 2). Explaining to readers that even though those people in each place speak French they are separated by their dialect. Making the point that speaking a certain dialect of a language ties you with that culture. Pointing the reader to accept or listen to African American expression of English. By giving this example about dialect, Baldwin wants to express that dialect is a way to separate cultures among people. He then talks about the African American “slang” and how it ties to the
Baldwin begins his essay with a recount of his childhood, growing up black in a nation which considered itself white. Baldwin explains the uphill battle fought by every American Negro, how many “were clearly headed for the Avenue” (Baldwin 296) of whores, pimps, and racketeers. Baldwin argues that the American Negro was doomed to remain in the same state in which he or she was brought into the world, just as “girls were destined to gain as much weight as their mothers, the boys … would rise no higher than their fathers” (Baldwin 298). Even an education would not rescue one from “the man’s” oppression. The man, of course, is the white man who “would never, by the operation of any generous human feel...
This movie is a wonderful production starting from 1960 and ending in 1969 covering all the different things that occurred during this unbelievable decade. The movie takes place in many different areas starring two main families; a very suburban, white family who were excepting of blacks, and a very positive black family trying to push black rights in Mississippi. The movie portrayed many historical events while also including the families and how the two were intertwined. These families were very different, yet so much alike, they both portrayed what to me the whole ‘message’ of the movie was. Although everyone was so different they all faced such drastic decisions and issues that affected everyone in so many different ways. It wasn’t like one person’s pain was easier to handle than another is that’s like saying Vietnam was harder on those men than on the men that stood for black rights or vice versa, everyone faced these equally hard issues. So it seemed everyone was very emotionally involved. In fact our whole country was very involved in president elections and campaigns against the war, it seemed everyone really cared.
The main issue that arises during courtroom sessions is the issue of ownership. There is also a large divide between the Africans and the lawyer, Baldwin, who is trying to free them. Cinque manages to slightly understand what the lawyer is trying to ask him. Eventually, the lawyer is able to find a person who speaks both the Mende language and English. Near the beginning of the film, before the 44 slaves are put to trial, the lawyer says that “the only way one may sell or purchase slaves is when they are born slaves, as on a plantation” (Spielberg, Amistad). According to his statement, the lawyer’s main argument is to prove that the prisoners originate from a place that is not a plantation.
...as a reader I must understand that his opinions are supported by his true, raw emotions. These negative feelings shared by all of his ancestors were too strong to just pass by as meaningless emotions. Baldwin created an outlook simply from his honest views on racial issues of his time, and ours. Baldwin?s essay puts the white American to shame simply by stating what he perceived as truth. Baldwin isn?t searching for sympathy by discussing his emotions, nor is he looking for an apology. I feel that he is pointing out the errors in Americans? thinking and probably saying, ?Look at what you people have to live with, if and when you come back to the reality of ?our? world.?
The film Amistad is based on a true event that occurred in 1839. It is about a mutiny by recently captured slaves, who take over a ship known as La Amistad, and the legal battle that followed regarding their freedom. The movie begins by showing many Africans chained together on the lower deck of La Amistad. They manage to break free and go to the upper deck and attack the sailors, leading a mutiny and taking over the ship. They leave two men alive to guide them back to Africa, but they point them towards the US. When they arrive in the states, the Africans are thought to be runaway slaves, and are imprisoned. The case of their freedom is taken to court, to decide whether the Africans were originally slaves or free men. One lawyer decides to fight for them, and pleads his case that the Africans were never slaves and were indeed free men. The case eventually makes it to the Supreme Court and a translator is eventually found to communicate with the leader of the Africans, and he tells his story. He was one of many illegally captured in Africa, and sold into slavery. When the time comes for the trial, John Quincy Adams pleas for their freedom. After a grueling trial, the slaves are said to be free men, and are to be sent back to their homeland, Africa.
They were faced with race hatred, mob violence, brutally beaten up, and imprisoned for breaking the law. The African Americans were not able to go into the white people’s facilities.