Table Of ContentAmerican Slavery on Film
Recent Titles in Hollywood History
The Vietnam War on Film
David Luhrssen
The American West on Film
Johnny D. Boggs
The Civil War on Film
Peg A. Lamphier and Rosanne Welch
World War II on Film
David Luhrssen
The Cold War on Film
Paul Frazier
Sports on Film
Johnny D. Boggs
The 1960s on Film
Jim Willis and Mark Miller
The Great Depression on Film
David Luhrssen
American Women’s History on Film
Rosanne Welch and Peg A. Lamphier
American Slavery
on Film
Caron Knauer
Hollywood History
Copyright © 2023 by ABC-CLIO, LLC
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
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permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Knauer, Caron, author.
Title: American slavery on film / Caron Knauer.
Description: Santa Barbara, California : ABC-CLIO, [2023] | Series:
Hollywood history | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022037029 | ISBN 9781440877513 (hardcover ; acid-free
paper) | ISBN 9781440877520 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Slavery in motion pictures. | African Americans in motion
pictures. | Motion pictures—Social aspects—United States.
Classification: LCC PN1995.9.S557 K53 2023 | DDC
791.43/655—dc23/eng/20221014
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022037029
ISBN: 978-1-4408-7751-3 (print)
978-1-4408-7752-0 (ebook)
27 26 25 24 23 1 2 3 4 5
This book is also available as an eBook.
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www.abc-clio.com
This book is printed on acid-free paper
Manufactured in the United States of America
Contents
Series Foreword vii
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction xv
Chronology of European and American Race-Based
Chattel Slavery xxvii
1. Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1914) 1
2. Mandingo (1975) 19
3. Roots (1977) 29
4. Sankofa (1993) 47
5. Nightjohn (1996) 65
6. Amistad (1997) 85
7. Django Unchained (2012) 103
8. 12 Years a Slave (2013) 119
9. The Birth of a Nation (2016) 143
10. Harriet (2019) 161
Bibliography 187
Index 189
Series Foreword
Just exactly how accurate are Hollywood’s film and television portrayals
of American history? What do these portrayals of history tell us, not only
about the events they depict but also the time in which they were made?
Each volume in this unique reference series is devoted to a single topic or
key theme in American history, examining 10–12 major motion pictures
or television productions. Substantial essays summarize each film, provide
historical background of the event or period it depicts, and explain how
accurate the film’s depiction is, while also analyzing the cultural context in
which the film was made. A final resources section provides a comprehen-
sive annotated bibliography of print and electronic sources to aid students
and teachers in further research.
The subjects of these Hollywood History volumes were chosen based on
both curriculum relevance and inherent interest. Readers will find a wide
array of subject choices, including American Slavery on Film, the Civil War
on Film, the American West on Film, Vietnam on Film, and the 1960s on
Film. Ideal for school assignments and student research, the length, for-
mat, and subject areas are designed to meet educators’ needs and students’
interests.
Preface
The earliest films made in America often included Black characters and sto-
ries. And while early films about slavery romanticized it, in part, they also
revealed the African American’s resistance and rebellion. The first adaptation
of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s epochal antislavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin
(1852), was directed by Edwin S. Porter and produced by Thomas Edison in
1903; later that year, Porter directed The Great Train Robbery, considered
the first American feature film. The first of nine film adaptations of Uncle
Tom’s Cabin, which in 1899 was still the New York Public Library’s most
borrowed book, the 1903 film was the first ever to have subtitles. It portrays
in its tableaux, or series of scenes, enslaved African Americans dancing hap-
pily, but it also shows Eliza taking her young son to escape to the North on
an ice floe after learning he would be sold away from her and Uncle Tom
defying a master’s orders to whip a fellow enslaved man. Eliza and Tom
rebel against the horrors of slavery.
The 1914 adaptation of Uncle Tom’s Cabin was the first film to star a
Black actor, Sam Lucas, in the role as Uncle Tom. This film also radically
rewrites Stowe and depicts a young enslaved man shooting the vicious
Simon Legree in retaliation for abusing Tom.
Arranged chronologically, the ten films discussed in this book depict the
resistance and rebellion of the enslaved as their response to and part of the
quotidian aspects of slavery in the South. African American characters are
seen getting into good trouble, as the civil rights leader John Lewis (1940–
2020) advocated, by speaking out and defying unjust policies, laws, dis-
crimination, and the entire institution of slavery; they are also seen taking
violent action.
