CIVIL RIGHTS EDUCATION IN FICTION
There have been many attempts made to educate the public through fiction in both book and multimedia formats for years. This page is a dedication to those authors, programs and movies which have strived to make a difference for tolerance in America.
UNCLE TOM'S CABIN, by
Harriett Beecher Stowe -- One of the first and most influential fictional
accounts of the condition of slavery in America in the 19th Century. This
book follows escaping slaves using the Underground Railroad to find freedom in
the north. "This is a book that changed history. Harriet Beecher
Stowe was appalled by slavery, and she took one of the few options open to
nineteenth century women who wanted to affect public opinion: she wrote a novel,
a huge, enthralling narrative that claimed the heart, soul, and politics of
pre-Civil War Americans. It is unabashed propaganda and overtly moralistic, an
attempt to make whites - North and South - see slaves as mothers, fathers, and
people with (Christian) souls. In a time when women might see the majority of
their children die, Harriet Beecher Stowe portrays beautiful Eliza fleeing
slavery to protect her son. In a time when many whites claimed slavery had
"good effects" on blacks, Uncle Tom's Cabin paints pictures of
three plantations, each worse than the other, where even the best plantation
leaves a slave at the mercy of fate or debt. By twentieth-century standards, her
propaganda verges on melodrama, and it is clear that even while arguing for the
abolition of slavery she did not rise above her own racism. Yet her questions
remain penetrating even today: "Is man ever a creature to be trusted with
wholly irresponsible power?"
STAR TREK*, by Gene
Roddenberry and Paramount Pictures -- This 1960s television series became
the first show to depict a multi-racial crew of officers working together in the
future. Represented were Africans and African-Americans, Russians, Asians,
Anglo-Saxons (of all nationalities) and even alien life forms. Star Trek
was the first television show to have an inter-racial kiss (between African Lieutenant
Uhura and Irish-American Captain James T. Kirk). Because of this kiss Star
Trek was banned from many television stations in the South during the 1960's and
1970's. Forward thinking Gene Roddenberry was also an advocate of Women's
Rights and in the initial pilot for the series cast a female as the fictional
starships first officer (Number One played by Majel Barrett who later portrayed
Nurse Chapel in the series). The network was not ready for such a thing in
the 60s and when the series premiered several years later the female first
officer had been removed from the story. The series ended in 1969, but
received new life in syndication through the 70's. In 1979 Paramount
Pictures reassembled the original cast for a motion picture and a revival of the
Star Trek story was underway. There would be a total of ten motion picture
sequels as well as four spin-off TV series during the 80s, 90s and early
2000s. Several of the noteworthy points of these spin-offs were: An
African-American male captain (DS9), a female Captain (Voyager), and the
addressing of issues of racism throughout all of the spin-offs especially
"Deep Space Nine" (1990s) and "Enterprise"
(2001-2005). At this time there are no Star Trek series or movies
underway, however, there are several "fan fiction" internet movies
being made. The most important from a civil rights perspective being
"Star Trek: Hidden Frontier" which openly addresses issues of
Gay Rights barely touched on in the Paramount series.
Links:
http://www.hiddenfrontier.org/
Movie: "Schindler's List"
"Steven Spielberg had a banner year in 1993. He scored one of his biggest commercial hits that summer with the mega-hit Jurassic Park, but it was the artistic and critical triumph of Schindler's List that Spielberg called "the most satisfying experience of my career." Adapted from the best-selling book by Thomas Keneally and filmed in Poland with an emphasis on absolute authenticity, Spielberg's masterpiece ranks among the greatest films ever made about the Holocaust during World War II. It's a film about heroism with an unlikely hero at its center--Catholic war profiteer Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), who risked his life and went bankrupt to save more than 1,000 Jews from certain death in concentration camps.
By employing Jews in his crockery factory manufacturing goods for the German army, Schindler ensures their survival against terrifying odds. At the same time, he must remain solvent with the help of a Jewish accountant (Ben Kingsley) and negotiate business with a vicious, obstinate Nazi commandant (Ralph Fiennes) who enjoys shooting Jews as target practice from the balcony of his villa overlooking a prison camp. Schindler's List gains much of its power not by trying to explain Schindler's motivations, but by dramatizing the delicate diplomacy and determination with which he carried out his generous deeds.
As a drinker and womanizer who thought nothing of associating with Nazis, Schindler was hardly a model of decency; the film is largely about his transformation in response to the horror around him. Spielberg doesn't flinch from that horror, and the result is a film that combines remarkable humanity with abhorrent inhumanity--a film that functions as a powerful history lesson and a testament to the resilience of the human spirit in the context of a living nightmare." --Jeff Shannon,
Amazon.com
Movie: "Glory"
One of the very best films about the Civil War, this instant classic from 1989 is also one of the few films to depict the participation of African American soldiers in Civil War combat. Based in part on the books Lay This Laurel by Lincoln Kirstein and One Gallant Rush by Peter Burchard, the film also draws from the letters of Robert Gould Shaw (played by Matthew Broderick), the 25-year-old son of Boston abolitionists who volunteered to command the all-black 54th Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.
Movie: "Rosewood"
A shameful chapter in American history is powerfully dramatized in Rosewood, but moviegoers in 1997 may not have been ready for the African American equivalent of Schindler's List. And while the massacre that occurred in the nearly all-black town of Rosewood, Florida, in 1922 cannot compare in scale to the Nazi holocaust, it potently illustrates the same issues of racism and inherited intolerance that percolate at every level of human existence. An estimated 40 to 150 blacks were killed in Rosewood by an all-white lynch mob from the neighboring town of Sumner, where a white woman falsely claimed she'd been assaulted by a black man. The resulting mayhem ignited a tinderbox of resentment toward the flourishing citizens of Rosewood, and those few who survived were so traumatized that they remained silent until the truth was revealed by an investigative journalist in 1982.
* "Star Trek" and all associated spin-off names and movies are trademarks of the Paramount Pictures Corporation.