History in class essay

            Many people do not believe that it is possible to learn history from watching movies. The way people learn certain things can vary from one person to another. Some people are visual learners so it would be very good for them to watch a movie, others learn better when they can just listen to someone teach it or they can just read it. You really can learn a lot from a historical movie as long as it is accurate. I believe It is possible to develop great analytical skills and explore real events, circumstances, and attitudes just by watching movies in a critical way.

            When I was still at Randolph we watched the movie 12 years a slave, a movie about a free black man who was kidnapped and forced into slavery. This movie was based on a novel written by Solomon Northrop about his experiences when he was kidnapped. This movie really showed me a lot about how bad slavery really was. As Robert Ebert said “ The scene when Platt was left hanging from the tree all day while the slaves and workers just walked by him really showed how cruel slavery really was.” The director went into great detail when it came to slave cruelty and it really helped to get the point across. The scene when Solomon is forced to whip patsey was so cruel I almost couldn’t watch it. It is very possible to learn about real events and the circumstances of the time back then when watching a movie as detailed as this one. Robert Ebert said it perfectly “ This movie is like a punch in the gut where as Django was just a slap to the face … It really makes you feel that you have witnessed slavery.” A movie of this detail that really makes you feel apart of the time can really help you get a better understanding of what it was like back then. Of course the movie must be historically accurate to be able to learn from it.

            When deciding to watch a movie in history to help  further the understanding of a topic it is very important to make sure that the movie is accurate and non fiction. Two movies that we watched at Randolph before I left were Glory and 12 years a slave. These two movies have been proven to be historically accurate which makes them great movies to learn from. As an article in the Library of congress said “ these kidnappings were much more common than people talked about.” I had no idea something like this even happened during slave times until I watched this movie. The movie 12 years a slave is a great historical movie to learn from because it is based off of a book written by Solomon Northrop himself, and as Ny times said Solomon's story was not believed by many to be true until the real Samuel Bass was found in Ontario Canada. So this movie is great because it is based off a book that has been proven to be true. The movie Glory is Based off of the Experiences of Robert Goldshaw which were documented in his letters to his parents. This movie is also great to learn from because it is based off of a first hand account from the general of the 54^th regiment. Although this movie was not as graphic when it came to the cruelty of slaves, It did a great job showing how the black were treated.

The movie Glory showed me a lot about the blacks and whites during this time. The Blacks and Whites did not get along but they were able to come together as a group because they all had one common idea and goal. The first major step towards them coming together is during the movie when the officers also choose to refuse pay once the soldiers had refused their pay because it was not as much as the white soldiers. Another scene in the movie that proved this was when Goldshaw storms into the supply center for the army and starts tearing the place apart looking for shoes for his men because he had been ignored for so long. This scene showed that no matter black or white he cared about his soldiers well being and knew that they needed shoes and he would not stop until he got them. The Climax of the movie the battle at Fort Wagner solidified the relationship that had been built between the black soldiers and the white officers. The men marched together fearlessly into gunfire knowing that they would probably not make it. They had all come together as one and they were either going to win together or die together. This movie is a great movie to watch when studying the civil war because it helps depict the relationship between blacks and whites during the war.

I believe it is very possible to develop analytical skills and explore real events, circumstances, and attitudes just by watching movies in a critical way. These two movies showed me so much about slavery and the civil war that I had no idea even existed. These two movies really helped me explore the circumstances these people were in during this time. They also depicted the attitudes that blacks and whites had towards each other during this time. Whether you are a visual learner or not I believe it is very possible to learn history from watching historical movies.

           

 #1. Roger ebert- glory review – This was a movie review for glory that helped me understand the movie better.

#2. Imbd glory awards  this showed me how successful the movie glory was.

#3 imbd 12 years a slave awards - this showed me how successful the movie 12 years a slave was.

#4 12 years a slave accuracy this was a website that compared parts of 12 years a slave to what actually happened.

#5 history.org glory  This showed me exactly how historically accurate glory was.

#6 roger ebert 12 years review  this was a movie review on 12 years a slave that helped me understand the movie.

#7 ny times 12 years a slave -this was a movie review on 12 years a slave that helped me understand the movie.

#8 ny times glory -  This was a movie review for glory that helped me understand the movie better.

#9 library of congress 12 years a slave - this helped me with understanding how historically accurate the movie was.

 

This is Solomon Northrops real book 

 

This is a picture of what the battle of fort wagner was like. 

This is a picture of Robert Gouldshaw.

            This is a drawing of Solomon Northrop.



 This is a picture of what Edwin Epps house looks like now.

Reflection on Paraphase practice

I feel like I have learned a lot from this assignment that I did not know before. I never really thought that there was a certain time to use a quote rather than paraphrasing something, I thought it could just be either one. I feel like incorporating a quote is a lot more powerful than paraphrasing. Incorporating a quote gets the point across a lot better.

This is what I learned today:

• Only use a direct quote when it adds power and style to my writing.
• Always make it clear, from context, that I understand the full meaning of the quote.
• whether I quote or paraphrase, I must always be transparent about the source and how I'm using it.
• If I use another author's exact words or phrases, to any extent, I have to use quotation marks and give credit.
• 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.
• Hyperlinking is so easy, there is no excuse for not being transparent about my sources.

Practicing Incorporating a Quotation

The movie glory was very interesting to me. I agree with the critic when he says "By inaccurately depicting the 54th as a regiment of former slaves, Glory reveals the deeper truth that blacks in general were not the natural slaves that Southerners believed them to be and that abolitionists feared that they might be." I also believed that this movie still showed that the southerners believed the blacks were the natural slaves.

Paraphrase practice

"Glory, the epic account of the 54th Massachusetts, one of the first all-black regiments in the Civil War, contains numerous historical inaccuracies. Some of them are minor. For instance, the regiment’s climactic assault against Battery Wagner, the Confederate stronghold guarding Charleston harbor, actually took place from south to north, rather than north to south as depicted in the movie."
 This is an excerpt from an ashbrook.org review of the film.

Paraphrase:

The movie glory about the first all black regiment in the civil war has many historical inaccuracies. many of them are minor such as when the attacked Fort Wagner in the film they attacked from north to south whereas in real life they attacked from south to north.

Updated paraphrase:

Many slight historical inaccuracies are used in the movie, Glory, a historical report of one of the first all-black regiments, called the 54th Massachusetts. A minor example of these inaccuracies is during the key battle at Fort Wagner, in the Charleston harbor, where many Confederate soldiers were located and fought for the south. In the movie, the battle took place from north to south, while it actually took place from south to north.

glory review

 http://ashbrook.org/publications/oped-owens-00-patriot/

This is the review I will be using for Glory and I am working with cullen and margaret. 

Historical Evidence

The discussions we have been having the past two days in history have been very interesting. He has really taught me a lot of things that I did not know about the cotton industry before this. I learned that the picking of the cotton was the last part of the cotton process to be mechanized. This surprised me because I feel like the picking of the cotton is the most important part of the process because without picking the cotton you can't turn it into thread. So I was very surprised to here that it was the last thing to be mechanized. I also learned that cotton was over 50% of all the exports from the US to other countries. This was surprising to me to learn that our country relied so heavily on one crop. It was interesting because if something had gone wrong and we could not produce as much cotton as we used to then our entire economy would have collapsed.