The Sun Shines Bright, one of John Ford 's most personal films remains one of his most forgotten. Taking place in 1905 (according to Tag Gallagher), it follows four distinct story lines all of which are based upon the deep fractures found within the small Kentucky town called Fairfield: 1.For all intents and purposes, the main storyline, concerns the protagonist, William Priest (affectionately known as 'Judge ' or 'Billy ' throughout), and his reelection campaign against the haughty, Yankee, racially intolerant son-of-a-carpet-bagger, Horace K. Maydew. 2. The return of orphan Ashby Corwin, and his wooing of the black sheep of the town, Lucy Lee Lake. 3. The arrest of U.S Grant, a black teenage banjo player on the charge of raping a local white girl. The lynch mob that marches into town is driven out by Judge Priest and the real culprit is found, and shot. 4. The melodrama surrounding the town secret of who Lucy Lee 's (birth) mother is and the subsequent reveal. Within Fairfield there are two major divisions-- the black and white, and Confederate and Yankee (or as would be illustrated in the film through bgoth verbal mention and visually, relics vs modern). The division of white and black is something unavoidable given the time period and place, but the unique aspect this division is that it is not only skin deep, nor …show more content…
It comes directly after the white townsfolk have marched by. The change in tempo (marching of the whites vs the strolling of the blacks), sound (brash band sounds of the whites, sweet hymns and harmonica playing of the blacks) and direction (the whites came from the right side, the blacks from the left side) further highlights what the film has shown up until this point; the militaristic vs peace dichotomy, represented by the two
Making Whiteness: the culture of segregation in the south, 1890-1940 is the work of Grace Elizabeth Hale. In her work, she explains the culture of the time between 1890 and 1940. In her book she unravels how the creation of the ‘whiteness’ of white Southerners created the ‘blackness’ identity of southern African Americans. At first read it is difficult to comprehend her use of the term ‘whiteness’, but upon completion of reading her work, notes included, makes sense. She states that racial identities today have been shaped by segregation, “...the Civil War not only freed the slaves, it freed American racism
Up to about 40 years after the civil war blacks and whites lived among one another without segregation, just like they did during slavery I might add, but this time they were free, had access to property, shopped where whites shopped, lived side by side. I say again in this review, location, location, location. The north had slaves, the south had slaves, and the north had segregation. This book reminds us as we romanticize the north, it also has a past. I recommend this book to any teacher or person wanting to know the real history of segregation between blacks and whites in America and to remember that history repeats itself.
The American Civil war is considered to be one of the most defining moments in American history. It is the war that shaped the social, political and economic structure with a broader prospect of unifying the states and hence leading to this ideal nation of unified states as it is today. In the book “Confederates in the Attic”, the author Tony Horwitz gives an account of his year long exploration through the places where the U.S. Civil War was fought. He took his childhood interest in the Civil War to a new level by traveling around the South in search of Civil War relics, battle fields, and most importantly stories. The title “Confederates in the Attic”: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War carries two meanings in Tony Horwitz’s thoughtful and entertaining exploration of the role of the American Civil War in the modern world of the South. The first meaning alludes to Horwitz’s personal interest in the war. As the grandson of a Russian Jew, Horwitz was raised in the North but early in his childhood developed a fascination with the South’s myth and history. He tells readers that as a child he wrote about the war and even constructed a mural of significant battles in the attic of his own home. The second meaning refers to regional memory, the importance or lack thereof yet attached to this momentous national event. As Horwitz visits the sites throughout the South, he encounters unreconstructed rebels who still hold to outdated beliefs. He also meets groups of “re-enactors,” devotees who attempt to relive the experience of the soldier’s life and death. One of his most disheartening and yet unsurprising realizations is that attitudes towards the war divide along racial lines. Too many whites wrap the memory in nostalgia, refusing...
The original edition of The Strange Career of Jim Crow had as its thesis that segregation and Jim Crow Laws were a relative late comer in race relations in the South only dating to the late 1880s and early 1890s. Also part of that thesis is that race relations in the South were not static, that a great deal of change has occurred in the dynamics of race relations. Woodward presents a clear argument that segregation in the South did not really start forming until the 1890s. One of the key components of his argument is the close contact of the races during slavery and the Reconstruction period. During slavery the two races while not living harmoniously with each other did have constant contact with each other in the South. This c...
The first scene takes place at Antietam Creek, Maryland Sept. 17, 1862 at The Battle of Tatum. The Union marches on foot lead by Shaw, only to be bombarded with cannon shots and gunfire. After the battle he was taken to a hospital where he heard Lincoln would be issuing an emancipation proclamation to free the slaves. At a house party afterwards, Robert sees Gov. Andrew and meets Fredrick Douglas who tells him there is to be an all black regiment of which he would like Robert to be colonel. He asks his friend Kevin to assist him in leading this group. On November 27, 1862, black volunteer soldiers are brought to Readville Camp in Massachusetts. There we meet the main characters of the 54th Mass. Regiment. Rawlins is the future Sergeant Major and is a father figure to the group. Trip seems to have an angry personality who takes his frustration out on others. Thomas, a childhood friend of Shaw’s, is well educated and has not been exposed to harsh reality of the slavery scene.
Although some of Woodward’s peripheral ideas may have been amended in varying capacities his central and driving theme, often referred to as the “Woodward Thesis,” still remains intact. This thesis states that racial segregation (also known as Jim Crow) in the South in the rigid and universal form that it had taken by 1954 did not begin right after the end of the Civil War, but instead towards the end of the century, and that before Jim Crow appeared there was a distinct period of experimentation in race relations in the South. Woodward’s seminal his...
... newspaper article shown by Woodward gave a picture of how new the idea of segregation was in the South. Woodward put it best when he stated, “The policies of proscription, segregation, and disfranchisement that are often described as the immutable ‘folkways’ of the South, impervious alike to legislative reform and armed intervention, are of a more recent origin.” (65) He wanted to show how the roots of the system were not integrated with slavery. Jim Crow laws and slavery were both horrible institutions, but they existed as two seperate entities. Woodward does not claim the South to be picturesque, because the Jim Crow laws were not established in the region. The South established Jim Crow laws and made them worse than found in the North. Woodward’s goal was not to protect the South’s legacy, but to give a clearer picture of the facts regarding the Jim Crow laws.
In McLaurin’s hometown of Wade, North Carolina, segregation was obvious and everywhere in daily routines of life. Segregation was often meant to mean that blacks had separate facilities from whites, yet equal. However, this was often not the case. In fact, it was quite opposite. Many times, a public restroom for white was well kept, nice, and clean, whereas if it was for a black, it was dirty and rundown. A good example of the difference in facilities for whites and blacks were the elementary schools McLaurin described. The black elementary school was a one-story frame building, had no lunch program, no indoor plumbing, poor sports equipment, and hardly a playground. The white elementary school however, was a two-story brick building, “a large auditorium and stage, indoor plumbing and modern restrooms, a well-equipped kitchen, and a large dining room in which hot lunches were served daily (23).” It is clear when the two schools are compared against one another, that there is a vast difference in facilities which are for blacks, and those that a...
In D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation the interactions between black and white characters represent Griffith’s view of an appropriate racial construct in America. His ideological construction is white dominance and black subordination. Characters, such as the southern Cameron’s and their house maid, who interact within these boundaries, are portrayed as decent people. Whereas characters who cross the line of racial oppression; such as Austin Stoneman, Gus and Silas Lynch, are portrayed as bad. Both Lynch and Lydia Brown, the mulatto characters, are cast in a very negative light because they confuse the ideological construct the most. The mixing of races puts blacks and whites on a common ground, which, in Griffith’s view, is a big step in the wrong direction. Griffith portrays how the relationship between blacks and whites can be good only if the color line and positions of dominance and subordination are maintained. Through the mulatto characters he illustrates the danger that blurring the color line poses to American society.
The next few paragraphs will compare blacks in the north to blacks in the south in the 1800’s. In either location blacks were thought of as incompetent and inferior. The next few paragraphs will explain each group’s lifestyle and manner of living.
Pratt, R. A. (1992). In The Color of Their Skin: Eduation and Race in Richmond Virgina 1954 - 1989 (p. 4). Charlottesville: The University Press of Virigina.
...ward expansion and Northerner’s own view of racial superiority over blacks to care about what was occurring in the south (186).
.... A. (1992). In The Color of Their Skin: Eduation and Race in Richmond Virgina 1954 - 1989 (p. 4). Charlottesville: The University Press of Virigina.
Racism was very evident in this story and also in the time period before the American Civil War.
An Analysis of A Raisin In the Sun & nbsp; "A Raisin In The Sun" is a play written by an African-American playwright - Lorraine Hansberry. It was first produced in 1959. Lorraine Hansberry's work is about a black family in the Chicago South Side. the Second World War. The family consisted of Mama(Lena Younger), Walter.