US History Sachin Katyal

      "12 Years a Slave" Analysis         Films have always been at a point of contention when discussing if they are a good source to learn history. Other than documentaries, the over dramatization of movies like “The Social Network” often skew the meaning of what actually happens. After all, movies are made to entertain, not to teach. However, “12 Years a Slave” is different. It challenges the conventional idea that movies do not accurately represent real life. “12 Years a Slave” provides a way to learn from the horrors of US slavery such that the viewers do not just understand the information, but they become closer to gaining empathy for the slaves. The conventional way to learn about slavery is by reading about it, either from a textbook or from primary sources. While this gives the reader knowledge about the lives of slaves back then, it can be hard to gain a perspective. Simply reading text may cause sympathy in the reader, but it wi...

Slave Narratives http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai/enslavement/text6/text6read.htm http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/jacobs/jacobs.html  One thing that I learned that was very interesting was the sheltering of slaves. The slaves attempted to shield other slaves from the idea of being property while the slaveholder constantly enforced the idea that their only job in life is to be a slave. No matter how much they were told this, however, the slaves always thought that they could do more. In the first link, the girl actually states that her parents sheltered her so much, that, "I never dreamed I was a piece of merchandise." Also, I never realized that slaves are not born knowing that their position in life. It makes me think about at what point do they realize they are property. And even at that young age they said they did, do they even know what it means to be property. My assumption is that slaves tend to have to grow up much quicker than we do nowadays, so I t...