Band of Angels (Review)

 Band of Angels

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On Wednesday, September 28th, 2022, my Talking About Freedom class had another movie day. We had completed our mock trial and our EOTO presentation on that Monday before. And to celebrate a job well done, our professor brought us to the Extraordinaire Theatre to watch the movie "Band of Angels".

What I noticed about race relations in the movie was that black people were treated as property. It did a great job of depicting how black people were treated in the south. We were shown slaves being sold and how they were required to stand in different areas on boats away from white people. We also saw how Yvonne De Carlo's character, Amantha Starr, was treated. Even though she was still part white, she was still discriminated against for being partly black. We were also told Clark Gable's character, Hamish Bonds, past of being a slave trader. How he had worked with people who would seek out villages to take people in to be sold as slaves. It had helped me realize how things were in the south from the perspective of the characters. I had seen how people were treated based upon race.

New Orleans had been an international gateway into America. There were many different types of people who lived there. This means that many black people lived here, either willingly or unwillingly. Some as slaves and some as freed people. And the fact that European nations had already outlawed slavery by 1860, definitely affected the United States' feelings on whether slavery should continue.

In the film, the idea of "freedom" was brought up often. Each character had their own definition and reasons for wanting freedom. For example, Amantha Starr wanted freedom from half of herself. She didn't want to be labeled at all as black. Due to her being partly black, she was taken from her home and sold into slavery, she didn't want that. She wanted to live a "white life". Hamish Bond wanted freedom from his past. He had made mistakes that he wanted to repent for. Lastly, Sidney Poitier's character, Rau-Ru, wanted freedom from Hamish. Since his childhood, he had relied on him because he saved his life. He no longer wanted to protect him and feel as if he owed him something. In the end, all three characters never accomplished that freedom. Amantha learned that she didn't need to escape from part of herself, Hamish learned that his past was now a part of him and all he could do was move forward, and Rau-Ru helped Hamish in the end as he relearned that Hamish was like his family.

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Compared to Gone with the Wind, I think I prefer this film. I like it because the movie focused a bit more on the perspective of black people during the time. This is good because the discussion of enslaved black people was the focus during the time. We got to see that perspective and learned more about the impacts. Band of Angels discussed the depiction of race in the south a bit better than Gone with the Wind did, as we saw not only the perspective of Rau-Ru, but the lead character Amantha was depicted as partly black. The black characters had more of a character and development in the end. They weren't just there as support for the white characters. Freedom for each character was also depicted. That was a good route to go on the filmmaker's part. By doing so in that perspective, we learned more about the characters and their feelings.

To finish, the film was great. The depiction of the time seemed more accurate than Gone with the Wind, which is a factor that I liked. And character building throughout the film was visible; you could definitely see each of their developments which was great.

Work Cited:

Band of Angels (Film: 1957)

The Other Groups Presentation (Mock Trial: Plessy v. Ferguson)

 Mock Trial: Plessy v. Ferguson

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The case, which happened in 1896, was an argument around whether Homer Plessy should've been allowed to sit in the whites only section on a railcar. The case was focused on in Louisiana and followed a man named Homer Plessy who was 1/8 African American. Although he was 7/8 black, the argument of him sitting in the white are of a railcar was discussed.

Support of Plessy:

If the customer of the rail ticket is able to purchase the ticket, why does their race have an input in the matter. Even so, black people's lives intertwined with whites. In the end, segregation makes no sense as there were many black people who were still involved with white people's lives.

Support if Ferguson:

An argument against Plessy would probably be that he violated the law as he is shown to be 1/8 black. Also, from a religious standpoint, there is nothing that states how segregation is unjust or just. To add, the segregation between races had been beneficial to black people as they had started their own business and the economy had grown. It even showed how black people were able to thrive on their own (an example being Black Wallstreet).

EOTO: The Freedmen's Bureau

The Freedmen's Bureau

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During the Reconstruction Era, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments were developed. For the EOTO presentations, I was assigned the Freedmen's Bureau, also previously known as "the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands." This group had been around during the Reconstruction Era, the time when the three amendments were created and added to the US Constitution.

Some background of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments explain why this time period was so important. Not only were they influential amendments that helped freed black people, but they were also Amendments that were beneficial to white people as well. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery, which had been the start of the creation of the next two Amendments. The 14th Amendment was the citizenship Amendment and it provided three clauses/freedoms. Those being: The privileges or immunities clause, the due process clause, and the equal protection clause. Lastly, the 15th Amendment which had granted black men with the right to vote. These amendments positively affected the US Constitution and the nation as a whole.

Established on March 3rd, 1865, by Congress, the Freedmen's Bureau's purpose was to help former black slaves and poor whites in the southern portion of the country with the aftermath of the Civil War. It had provided people with food, housing, and medical aid. They had even established schools and provided legal assistance for anyone who needed it.

The bureau was originally intended to be a temporary agency that lasted throughout the time of the civil war plus one year after. Congress placed it under the direction of the war department as it assisted with events regarding the war. Also, the majority of original employees for the bureau were Civil War soldiers. The agency had been organized in districts covering 11 former rebel states. Some of those states included Maryland, Kentucky, West Virginia, Washington DC, etc.

Even though the bureau's intention was to help the south, they were struggling with keeping the group together, as they were struggling with funding and volunteers. The struggle was also due to the politics of race and reconstruction. The organization had failed to protect black people long-term.

Eventually in the summer of 1872, the Freedmen's Bureau was dismantled, primarily to pressure from white southerners.

Work Cited:

https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/freedmens-bureau

The Other Groups Presentation (EOTO)

 EOTO: De Jure Slavery Era

Abraham Lincoln (Image Found Here)

On September 26th, 2022, my Talking About Freedom class had presentations. Half of the class did a mock trial (of which I was a part of), and the other half did an EOTO. This blogpost will be about the information I learned from the other group from their EOTO.

Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad was established around the early to mid 1800s. It was a network of routes and safehouses that assisted enslaved African Americans in escaping to the free states in the north. A key player in the Underground Railroad was Harriet Tubman, an escaped slave herself who conducted multiple trips after her own to help more enslaved people escape.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Uncle Tom's Cabin was written by abolitionist, Harriet Beecher Stowe. Her story was said to have "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War." The novel was written to help depict the realities of slavery in the south, as it follows a slave, Uncle Tom, and his view of other characters. Her idea was to show the impacts of slavery while still motioning towards the idea that Christian love could overcome slavery.

The Liberator

The Liberator was a weekly abolitionist newspaper that was printed and published in Boston, Massachusetts. It was created by William Lloyd Garrison who is an abolitionist himself. The idea of abolishing slavery mentioned in the paper was based more around religion than it being based around politics. It was a non-violent tactic used by Garrison to get his point across, eventually inspiring other abolitionists to take a stand.

The Nat Turner Rebellion

In August 1831, enslaved Virginians were led by fellow slave, Nat Turner, in a rebellion against their slave masters and other slave holders. By the end of the rebellion, 55-61 people (51 at least being white) were killed before the action was suppressed. And approximately 120 African Americans (both free and enslaved) were killed in the crossfire. Nat Turner went into hiding before being found and executed. Afterwards, 56 additional slaves were executed by the accusation that they were a part of the rebellion. This event led to the government creating laws that prevented black people from gaining further education and other civil liberties.

Missouri Compromise

The Missouri Compromise was a federal legislation that balanced free states and slave states. Its original premise was deciding whether or Missouri should be a free state or a slave state, eventually deciding on the later. As it decided that Missouri should not be free, in order to balance the country, it was decided that Maine should be a free state. This decision led to the divide between the north and south.

Amistad Mutiny

The Amistad Mutiny was a slave rebellion that took place on the slave ship "Amistad". 53 slaves, of whom were just abducted from Africa, revolted and killed the captain and cook of the ship. They left the navigator alive so he could bring them back to Africa. This plan backfired when the navigator instead led them northward. Eventually they were brought to Connecticut.

Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

This act was passed on September 18th, 1850. It required that all escaped slaves, following capture, be returned to their "owner". It was written that everyone must cooperate. This contributed to the growing tensions between the North and the South due to the topic of slavery. It was one of the biggest factors that led to the Civil War.

American Anti-Slavery Society

Founded in 1833 by abolitionists William Lloyd Garrison (creator of the Liberator) and Arthur Tappan. It had 1,350 local chapters and around 250,000 members by 1838. The A.A.S.S. was also a catalyst for the start of the women's suffrage movement.

The Kansas Nebraska Act

The Kansas Nebraska Act created the territories related to its namesake (Kansas and Nebraska). It encouraged the tensions around slavery, repealed the Missouri Compromise, and contributed to armed conflicts (one of those conflicts being "Bleeding Kansas"). The act was drafted by Democratic Senator, Stephen A. Douglas. The act itself caused a pro-slavery and anti-slavery argument that led to the downfall of the Whig Party.

John Brown

John Brown was an American Abolitionist and an Evangelical Christian. In his fight against slavery, he was not a pacifist, he much rather preferred action, therefore leading to violence. He was described positively as a martyr and a visionary. Negatively, he was described as a madman and a terrorist. Overall, he was known for being a radical abolitionist, performing in Bleeding Kansas and The Harpers Ferry Attack. He was eventually hung for treason against Virginia, the murder of five men, and inciting a slave insurrection.

Harpers Ferry Attack

Ran by Abolitionist John Brown (Previous Paragraph), it was an attack that lasted two days between October 16th-18th, 1859. The plan was to initiate a slave revolt in the South by taking control of the US arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. The group of 22 was defeated by the US Marines. 10 were killed, 7 were tried in court, and 5 had escaped.