Oppression Power and Diversity Oppression, Power & Diversity

This reflection paper aims to shed light on the PBS Documentary "Slavery by another Name" by performing a brief review on the documentary, drawing some learning points and some points to ponder over. The documentary has been directed by Sam Pollard in which you can admire his efforts since adapting a literary work as a documentary is an arduous task. The documentary deals with the continuation of slavery in other forms after it was abolished in the 19th century. Author of the book, Douglas A. Blackmon presents compelling proof in his book, of which the documentary is an adaptation, that even though slavery was declared to an end, it has transpired even into the 20th century in other forms like forced service, bounded in chains, torture and subjection to poor living conditions by the authorities.

Step I

In preparation of this reflection, I decided to watch the documentary with an open mind in order to fully perceive what Blackmon tried to depict, the way he intended to. What I immediately found shocking was how the new form of slavery was strikingly similar to the definition of slavery. I can sum up that slavery is "holding a person for servitude against his free will." Pollard made a visceral experience possible for me by precisely capturing Blackmon's essence in order to depict the gravity of the situation. "Slavery by another Name" gave me more than experience. It is an educational perspective seamlessly delivered by Pollard in order to bridge a cerebral gap which I noticed between...

For me, some important learning outcomes after watching this documentary were:
In Southern states like Alabama, convicts were lent to private business companies for the sake of profit.

Post Civil War and slavery abolition, the imprisonment rates soared due to overly stringent laws in the 20th century. African-American people would get arrested for committing minor felonies and would get imprisoned failing to pay the debt (Fienberg, 2012)

Harsh penalty duties like Clarke's were unjustly served, extremely impossible to carry out and discriminatory against black people. Such sentences highlighted the extent of racial discrimination which was not much different before slavery was emancipated.

Because of continued racial discrimination in the 20th century, future generations of African-Americans who had never known slavery felt threatened by its origin (Maslin)

Step II

After an extensive exposure to the course contents and prolonged discussions in the class, I begin to reflect on one of my personal experiences in which I witnessed oppression in the society. The behavior of a police officer in charge of parking tickets serving tickets to a white American…