In this 1993 film by Ethiopian-born filmmaker Haile Gerima, a modern-day, fashion model is transported to the past to experience the traumas of American chattel slavery.
Sankofa (1993)
Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property (2002)
This film tells the story of Nat Turner’s 1831 Virginia slave revolt. For years, historians have grappled with the details of the affair and debated about the ways Nat Turner should be remembered.
Great Books on Enslaved Life and Labor in the US
Classic studies, the newest works, and a few novels on labor and gender and the institutions of slavery in the United States.
Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War by Tony Horwitz (1999)
In his introduction to Confederates in the Attic, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tony Horwitz recounts the very strange moment when his weekend sleep-in was rudely interrupted by the loud cracking of gunfire.
Debating the Causes of the Civil War
As we remember the tenth anniversary of the 9-11 attacks, we should also not forget that this year marks the 150th anniversary of the beginning of another tragic episode: this country’s Civil War that left more than 600,000 dead in its wake.
A torrent of controversy has in fact arisen alongside the Civil War’s sesquicentennial, the most prevalent being debates over the war’s causation.
The Help
Historical films and books always distort the historical record for dramatic purposes. Sometimes that doesn't matter and sometimes it does. The Help, a best-selling book and now a film playing nationwide, elicited this statement from the Association of Black Women Historians.
Toyin Falola on Africa and the United States
Often wrongly considered to be on the periphery of the history of the United States, Africa has played an important role politically, economically, and culturally from before American independence until the present day.
Let the Enslaved Testify
For nearly 30 years, historians have debated about the use of former slave narratives as a “valid” historical source. Scholars question the authenticity of interviews collected in the 1930s, often by white Works Progress Administration (WPA) field workers.
Rebel With a Cause: Johnny Tremain (1957)
As a historian of early America, my subject predates the invention of film or video, voice or music recording, or even photography. When I watch my modernist colleagues deliver multi-media lectures – including film clips, snatches of popular music or speeches, and photos - I feel a twinge of envy.
Great Books on The Rise of American Capitalism
More Reading on the rise of American Capitalism