Glory & 12 Years a Slave essay

    In the movies 12 Years a Slave, and Glory, these films were able to keep historically accurate portrayals, that can keep an audience well informed, as well as drawing the audience in to watch the film by embellishing some tales and adding some more detailed action sequences. For example, in 12 Years a Slave, there is a scene on the slave boat where a slave is murdered by one of the sailors on the boat for trying to stop him before he rapes another slave. However, in this scene, the sense of all human rights being lost for the slaves as well as to add a sense of dread that Solomon may never have a chance to ever escape is provided making it a very important one to the movie. The only components missing to this film according to this times.com article are the slave overseer Tibeats was not captured chasing down Solomon with an axe, and there is no specific recorded instance that Mistress Epps injured Patsy, however it is entirely possible considering that according to the this atlantic review, the book, 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, Mistress Epps wanted Patsy dead, and talked to Solomon it seems that Patsy didn’t want to commit suicide, it was just a misunderstanding from the language used in the book, that Mistress Epps was actually the one that wanted Patsy dead. The way time is shown in the movie is also very intriguing, obviously it is completely unrealsitic to believe someone can show 12 years of action in 2 hours, but the director manages o get a sense of time across by subtly showing different seasons throughout the movie. The movie, 12 Years a Slave, manages to keep audience on the edge of their seat throughout the over 2 hour film, while staying true to the original story and sacrificing a few minor details to enhance the cinema going experience. Nearly the same thing happens in the movie, Glory, the opening battle scene is shortened to a few minutes and shown with faster moving parts that allows the director to fit a battle that probably lasted for several hours to 5 minutes. Allowing for an eye catching scene to start off the film and grab everyone's attention. Glory way similar to the actual events that transpired but was "Americanized" as to not show much of the part of the Civil War that makes the Americans look bad such as the mistreatment of black people by ordinary citizens and military officers alike. I found a book review for the book, Glory, and found that Robert Gould Shaw was portrayed precisely by the movie, as he was in the book. The book review shows that Robert Gould Shaw was a real person that did control the very first unit of black soldiers in the Civil War, and he had a humane way of fighting in the Civil War. When the 54th regiment first gets to start marching in the south, the movie shows them go into a town called Darien, Georgia and loot and destroy the entire town before eventually setting Darien ablaze. All Gould Shaw could do was sit there and watch while a higher commanding officer shouted these orders at both his regiment and another. This actually did happen, which I found out from an article by the NYTimes, and for many years Georgians and southerners detested Gould Shaw believing he was the root of this happening, which is fair considering his stature and ranking. But, when the movie came out it helped spread the message that Gould Shaw was not the evil man Georgians thought he was and more importantly showed how people can learn from movies about history. All in all movies are a very useful and entertaining tool that can and should be used to show historical events.
Sources:

New York times film review by Vincent Camby - I used this as an introduction to Glory and to see how accurately the 54th regiment as well as battle scenes were shown.

One Gallant Rush. Robert Gould Shaw and his Brave Black Regiment by Peter Burchard - I used this to see how well Robert Gould Shaw was portrayed in the movie.

New York Times review by Richard Bernstein - I used this since it talked about how black soldiers in the Civil War fought against prejudice and didn't just talk about the movie.

New York Times historical review by Michael Cieply - I used this since it gave a very descriptive and went over how accurate the movie was as well as describing how it could change the genre of slave movies.

The Atlantic review by Noah Berlatsky -I used this to see what was fact and fiction in 12 Years a Slave.

Time review by Eliana Dockterman - I used this to see what was fact and fiction in 12 Years a Slave.

LOC Newspaper archives- I used this to search to see if Solomon Northup's kidnapping was reported in any paper which it wasn't.

Reverse Underground railroad- I used this to find out how often free men were kidnapped and sold as slaves
Reverse Underground railroad Chicago tribune Reverse Underground Railroad by Chicago Tribune- I used this to get a credible resource about the reverse underground railroad

Real life picture of slavery in the United States

Example of a slave ship like the one Solomon Northup was on

The 54th regiment in Glory

Poster advertising for the 54th regiment of Massachusetts, the same as the one in Glory.

Solomon Nortup as a slave in 12 Years a Slave

Reflection on paraphrase practice

I have learned today how to effectively paraphrase and when to use them, how a writer can get his ideas across while quoting another author. Paraphrasing is an effective way to use a quote from another person in an essay without having to fully dissect the quote. Quoting can also be effective in a form of writing when the quote is very complex, and needs to be dissected in a thorough manner, and when a statement is polarizing and helps the overall essay.

I understand that I should only use a direct quote when it adds power and style to my writing.

I understand that I should always make it clear, from context, that I understand the full meaning of the quote.

I understand that whether I quote or paraphrase, I must always be transparent about the source and how I’m using it.

I understand that if I use another author’s exact words or phrases, to any extent, I have to use quotation marks and give credit.

I understand that if I use another author’s presentation of facts or ideas, but put their ideas in my own words, (paraphrase) I better have a good reason for doing so, and I MUST give credit.

I understand that hyperlinking is so easy, there is no excuse for not being transparent about my sources.  

Practicing Incorporating Question

Glory presented the Civil War as an extremely bloody war that was fought by even more extremely proud men. The movie review by New York Times also shares the same point of view by saying, "The toll taken in each battle was, of course, enormous. Yet still the men continued to move forward. They had to believe in what they were doing." The New York Times and myself credit the movie with being historically accurate and portraying the Civil War as destructive, but the destruction didn't lower the morale of the soldiers fighting.

Paraphrase practice

This is an excerpt from the NY Times review of the movie, Glory:"The attack on Fort Wagner, which is the climax of the movie, comes as close to anything I've ever seen on screen to capturing the chaos and brutality that were particular to the Civil War battles. Weapons maimed as often as they killed. Soldiers were so disciplined that they marched in firm lines into the sights of guns fired at point-blank range. Hand-to-hand combat was commonplace." 

My paraphrase of this excerpt: "At the peak of the movie, the battle at Fort Wagner accurately represented how a battle during the Civil war would look like. Basically, a crazy inhumane bloodbath. The Guns, cannons, and swords weren't always a fatal blow, often times horribly injuring someone. The soldiers had the restraint so that they didn't falter and forged straight ahead into the enemy's gunfire, despite it being an almost certain suicide mission. Hand to hand combat was also used very well." 

Glory film review

Link I am working with: http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=950DE4D8113FF937A25751C1A96F948260
Partners: Matthew Phillips & Jake Weese

The effects of cotton picking

The past couple of days in US History, my class was assigned assignments to find evidence for various events. The last one being about the effect of cotton on the US economy in the 1800's as well as the inventions that sped this process up. Cotton was an essential part of the US economy, without many economical struggles were bound to happen, as cotton was definitely the first or second most important crop in the United States. Due to inventions being made to reduce the time from when the cotton was picked to when it wound up in the customer's hand, this led to even more inventions to reduce that time. For example, the mechanized loom, also known as the power loom, lead to the invention of the spinning jenny, which lead to Eli Whitney inventing his version of the cotton gin. Cotton was so impactful on the US economy that it lead to a similar, albeit smaller, version of the 1849 gold rush. But, this time people moved to the southeast United States to plant cotton.