Amistad Essays (Examples)

Amistad
The story of the Amistad has become part of the less glamorous history in the United States and the wider Western world in terms of the human rights violation that was slavery. The story began in February 1839, when Portuguese slave traders violated all the treaties in existence at the time and abducted Africans from Sierra Leone in order to ship them to Cuba to be sold as slaves. In Cuba, 53 African men and women were sold to Spanish planters. The Cuban schooner Amistad would ship them to a plantation in the Caribbean. However, the simplicity of this plan was ruined by revolting Africans, who seized the ship in on 1 July 1839. The captain and the cook were killed, and the remaining crew members were told to sail to Africa. This plan, however, also did not work, as the U.S. brig Washington seized the Amistad off Long…

The lawyers and advocates for the slaves recognize this early in the film, and it is a common theme throughout. This is also tied to the way in which the Amistad case led to the United States' Civil War. All moral objections to slavery aside, there were very real practical (both economic and political) concerns to ending slavery. This case further hurt the slave trade, promising increased economic issues for the South as their source of cheap labor disappeared.
Had the U.S. not been involved in the slave trade, the country would not have been as successful in its first century of existence. Though this is a terrible truth to admit, the economy of the South was dependent on slave labor, and it helped to drive the nation's wealth. The racial issues in this country would not exist, perhaps, had slavery never reached this continent, but the country itself might…

According to the movie, the case was important in helping to start the American Civil ar. At one point in the movie Senator Calhoun warns if the Amistad Africans are freed, then the South will have little choice but to go to war to defend its economic interests, in other words, slavery. This is simply not the case, the Amistad case was centered on the Atlantic slave trade which was already outlawed. Spain was breaking international law by transporting kidnapped Africans as slaves to Cuba and its other colonies. The notion that the Africans were tortured and kidnapped as free persons validated their use of force to free themselves from the Spanish. The freedom of the Africans did not endanger America's stability because domestic laws were never even in question. The Spanish slave traders violated International Law and it was this violation that freed them at the end. The movie…

Amistad
n 1839 the United States was bitterly divided over the issue of slavery. The House of Representatives had enacted a gag order which effectively blocked any anti-slavery legislation from being discussed. Current President Martin Van Buren was in a tough re-election campaign and was looking to the South for support. Northern Abolitionists were in a state of frustration as every avenue had been blocked for them. nto this maelstrom sailed a tiny ship named the Amistad, which weeks earlier had been commandeered by it's cargo of slaves. This trial over those onboard would turn into a battle over the issue of Slavery itself and tear America apart. (Mintz)

The slaves had been captured illegally in Africa, sailed to Cuba and sold, and then were in the process of sailing to their final destination when the Africans rose up in rebellion, slaughter most of the crew, and forced the remaining…

Robert Hayden, one of the most important black poets of the 20th Century, was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1913 and grew up in extreme poverty in a racially mixed neighborhood. His parents divorced when he was a child and he was raised by their neighbors, illiam and Sue Ellen Hayden, and not until he was in his forties did he learn that Asa Sheffey and Gladys Finn were his biological parents. During the Great Depression he was employed for two years by the Federal riter's Project, and published his first volume of poetry Heart-Shape in the Dust in 1940. He taught English at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee for twenty-three years, and then at the University of Michigan from 1969 until his death in 1980. Among his other works were The Lion and the Archer (1948), Figure of Time (1955), A Ballad of Remembrance (1962), orks in Mourning Time…

They may not be overtly trying to keep blacks down, but I have noticed they it is important in this company to keep whites at the top of the ladder.
For example, my manager, a Caucasian, has been with this company for 20 years, he earns a salary in six figures and has no college experience. It shows. In fact under his supervision our department is collapsing. There is a supervisor who is African-American who tries hard to cover up for his boss's errors of judgment and wrongheaded decisions. He should be the one running our department, but he hasn't been promoted or compensated -- or even given credit for the yeoman's work that he does. The black supervisor has been with the company as long as the white manager, and the black supervisor has two master's degrees, but he can't catch a break in the company pecking order. The…

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The Aftermath

Uncle Tom characters were common in both white and black productions of the time, yet no director before Micheaux had so much as dared to shine a light on the psychology that ravages such characters. By essentially bowing to the two white men, Micheaux implied that Old Ned was less than a man; an individual whittled down to nothing more than yes-man and wholly deprived of self-worth. At this point in the history of black films, with some of the most flagrant sufferings of blacks exposed to the American public, the only logical path forward that African-Americans could take was to begin making cogent demands to improve their collective social situation.

Slowly, black characters in film took on greater and more significant roles in film. Sidney Poitier was one of the most powerful film stars of the mid twentieth century. In roles like the 1950 film by…

The book Autobiography of My Dead Brother also deals with the identity crises of youth. It begins with three teenagers attending a funeral of their friend who died in a drive-by shooting. The main characters, Jesse and Rise, are not actually blood brothers, but they consider themselves brothers because of their close friendship. However, over the course of the book, the two young men began to become estranged. Rise becomes more and more interested with making a living on the street, selling drugs and living the life of the sort of people who killed Bobby, the boy whose funeral both young men attend at the beginning of the book. Rise justifies this because Bobby played by the rules and still died -- but in contrast, Jesse finds himself growing apart from his brother and instead finding refuge in art rather than violence. Defining his own values in contrast to those…

Slave Dancer: How to teach the book, how to teach about slavery, race, and ethics
The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox, viewed from the eyes of a student, is an adventure tale with a young protagonist who can be easily identified with, in the eyes of a young reader. Plot wise, the book tells the story of a young, thirteen-year-old boy in 1840, when the American slave trade was still legal. The boy, Jessie Bollier, has recently lost his father. He makes money for his family by playing his fife on the docks of New Orleans. Suddenly, one day, he finds himself on board a ship called "The Moonlight." The Moonlight is a slave ship bound for the coast of Africa.

An exciting story from the point-of-view of a student, but a potential lesson in history and ethics in the eyes of a teacher, for Jessie, as compelled by the…

reparation being paid to descendants of African America slaves is certainly not a new argument, eiter for or against. Te world is full of people wo in black and wite see te need for reparations, be tey financial or oterwise. To many, te ideals or affirmative action and oter civil rigts reforms are a form of reparations. Yet, te question is often raised as to wy te rest of te culture sould pay for a mistake made by a small percentage of te U.S. population, more tan one undred years ago. Additionally, witin tort teory states tat te federal government ad te power to abolis slavery and yet did not and it terefore owes for damages. It is clear, witout a doubt tat someting is owed to te descendants of te African-American Slaves, yet te question as always been wo sould pay and ow muc.
" ... Te government is…

Toni Morrison's Beloved
This story works to capture the essence of slavery's aftermath for its characters. It tells a truth created in flashback and ghost story. It aims to create mysticism only memory can illustrate. "The novel is meant to give grief a body, to make it palpable" (Gates, 29). The characters are trapped in the present because they are imprisoned by the horrors of slavery. They are literally held hostage in their home, isolated from the outside world. In many ways Beloved represents a geographically realistic neo-slave narrative by presenting in flashback the experiences of Sethe. This story also has the fantastic element of a ghost who later becomes flesh and bone. The paragraphs below explore the characters memories and the magical realism of a ghost.

Memory affects the character of Sethe in a way that illustrates the pain and grief of her past enslavement. Sethe is living with…

Still it is not completely unheard of for a name to be derived from a longer epitaph of Nat, property of man, Mr. Turner. This is how many people's last names resulted in ending with "man."
Nat Turner was born a slave in Virginia in 1800 and grew to become a slave preacher. He did not use tobacco or liquor and maintained a clean, disciplined life. He was very religious man and became passionate about the Scripture. He began preaching to slaves in and around the area of Southampton County, Virginia in 1828. As a result he became well-known and liked in the area. It was at this time he began having visions. It was these visions that inspired him to revolt. hile he waited for further signs, unrest was already evident in on plantations, in the hills and on boats in ports of call (Greenberg, 85). Gradually he built…

lack Consciousness came about because many African-American individuals were dissatisfied with the treatment that they were receiving from Caucasian individuals and the organizations that were designed to protect them were really not doing enough to ensure the protection of African-American individuals. Various works have been created that deal with lack Consciousness in different ways. Much of it is being read in schools today so that all people can gain a better understanding of their own culture and other cultures. One of these works is "Amistad 1: Writings on lack History and Culture" by John Williams and Charles Harris. This particular work was written in 1970, but it still has much relevance today for black consciousness, and it deals with many different interpretations regarding Western culture. Also looked at in this work is the philosophical validity of African-Americans when they discuss their interpretations of…

Horizon in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes ere atching God
The horizon is the line which forms the apparent boundary between earth and sky. The horizon is as far as you can see. The horizon appears to be the furthest point you can reach, but is not a place you can actually travel to. The horizon blurs at the line between earth and sky. The horizon is always present, no matter where you are or which direction you are facing. The horizon is where the sun rises and where the sun sets, representing a process coming full circle. These are all features of the horizon and they are all relevant to Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes ere atching God.

The novel suggests the importance of the horizon because it begins with it and ends with it. In the opening of the novel, Hurston writes:

Ships at a distance have every…

The hierarchical society, which characterized the new nation, was another aspect, which would soon be transformed. "The political rulers had come largely from the social elites. The churches were supported by those elites. and, in most cases, the churches had been officially sanctioned by the political structures of the states. Social, political, and religious authority had been tightly interwoven in the same small group of elite leaders." [

Ira Chernus] the Electoral voting system and the cultural changes initiated by the new political situation created a new wave of social and moral reforms.

Racial amity

Another major social change that started to happen was the dissolution of apartheid. Though it must be understood that racial segregation continued in existence much long after the abolition of slavery, the cause for desegregation was initiated in the 1830's. Oberlin College, started in 1833, became the first ever College in the U.S. To admit…

Heroine
If there is anything that we as a society love deeply…it's a hero. Both children and adults alike are drawn to heroes in both reality and fantasy. Children grow up being regaled by stories of the prince saving the princess and adults beam over happy endings in movies where the hero saves the day. Most people would describe the role as hero as someone, who defies the odds, is a champion for the people, and who physically or possibility even emotionally or spiritually rescues others. A hero may even possess unconventional ethics and approaches, but the constant is that a hero looks out for the greater good of others, particularly the minority whose voices have been silenced by the majority. This paper will provide a subjective definition of a "modern heroine" as well as present a discussion of an protagonist I deem a hero in Alice alker's novel "The…

Black Experience in American Culture
This is a paper that analyzes the black experience in American culture as presented by Hughes, Baldwin, Wright and Ellison. It has 20 sources in MLA format.

African-American authors have influenced American culture as they have come forward to present issues that the society would rather have forgotten. Authors such as ichard Wright alph Ellison, Langston Hughes and James Baldwin have come under fire as they have written about the racial and biased experiences throughout their life [Capetti, 2001] and through their narratives they have forged a link between the past, the present (themselves) and their future (the unborn generation).

These literary works are an effort on their part to prove to their nations that regardless of the perceived realities their existence and lives have valuable. The slave past some of these authors have had created a void in their lives that at times left…

Reception, Perception and Deception: The Genesis of Slavery
Progress has a way of making itself known to the world, even in a situation where there exists resistance. Considering Olaudah Equiano's "The Interesting Narrative, the issue of slavery throughout the colonial world was as much about assimilation as it was oppression. The conflict between cultures is shown in the nature of the cultural assumptions each makes concerning the other. The British are caught in a tunnel vision that doesn't allow for any considerations outside the belief that their way of life is superior and assume that the tribal culture will logically want to adapt to fit into the more modern way of life. They cannot accept the natives as equals, even as they verbalize their intention as one of attempting to create a hybrid culture. The Ibo, for their part, assume that the British will recognize and honor the way of…

El Epilogo
Yo se siempre seria Esperanza y yo se siempre seria de Mango Street. Pero hay mas. Yo he aprendedo mucho en estos anos.

Yo he aprendedo de amor. Amor verdadero, y no el amor egoista.

Yo recuerdo todo. No quiero olvidar.

Yo quiero recorder los nombres, las caras, las amigas, mi gente.

Yo quiero recorder el dolor, si, tambien el dolor. Porque el dolor puede seria nuestro maestro.

Quiero dar a mis hijos la oportunidad aprender, conocer Mango Street.

Para estas razones, yo no quiero salir.

Si, todavia quiero una casa propia. En esta casa seria amor.

Adentro esta casa seria flores de todos tipos: en cada color, como un arco iris.

Seria una cocina magica, donde hacer las delicias de la vida.

Entonces, nosotros ser juntos. Comemos juntos y duermen juntos.

Todo lo que ha pasado en Mango Street, todo paso por un razon.

No mas. Ya…

Slavery and its Relation to the Modern World The history of slavery in colonial America is a story of two worlds: the world of the aristocratic landowners and the slaves from African that helped to maintain and work the plantations. Each group had its own experiences and views, and each group was impacted differently by slavery. At the time, slavery was an accepted practice in the South. It had first been introduced in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619 when 20 slaves from Africa were brought to the colony by a Dutch ship. Thus began an era of slavery in America that had lasting effects on the population of the country even unto this very day. This paper will show how slavery throughout the history of the United States influenced the Legacy of slavery today because slavery is discussed in a negative connotation.
As the Editors of History.com note, “though it is…

For example, it is very probable that Ferreira Meirelles would have had trouble producing a motion picture on life in the favelas if he did not have access to Lins' manuscript. However, a successful artist needs to gather information from immediate sources in order to be able to efficiently tell a story from his perspective. This is basically what Ferreira Meirelles did at the time when he used Lins' book with the purpose of directing City of God.
Denying a person the right to talk in regard to a certain subject can be categorized as an act of discrimination. As long as she or she is familiar with the topic that he or she tackles, it would seem absurd to claim that he or she is not entitled to relate to the respective subject. A person who is well acquainted with social problems and psychology can encounter little to no…

imdb.com).
hat Mrs. Pell says to agent Anderson is both poignant and ironic: "Hatred isn't something you're born with. At school, they said segregation what's said in the Bible...Genesis 9, Verse 27. At 7 years of age, you get told it enough times, you believe it. You believe the hatred. You live it...you breathe it. You marry it" (Pell, (www.imdb.com).This movie was not a documentary albeit it did follow the plot of a real life civil rights tragedy. But the lines in the film reflect the reality of life in segregated, Jim Crow-dominated Southern towns during that time in our history.

In "Dances ith olves" the protagonist, John Dunbar, who has been banished to a wilderness post because he tried to commit suicide, has a newfound appreciation for Native Americans. In his life and his army career he has been given the propaganda that all native peoples are criminals and…

Were they even higher than the film portrays, or where they Hollywood dramatizing in order to create a film sympathetic to black soldiers in an era of "politically correct" filmmaking? The viewer takes the film for truth, when it may be more fabrication than they know.
In conclusion, "Glory" is an interesting film for a number of reasons. It graphically shows the horrors of war, and the additional racial horrors the black unit faced in its struggle for equality and freedom. The director may not have seen the film as a racial production, but critics and viewers certainly did. The film graphically illustrates the great division that split the country in two and created a Civil War, and shows that while blacks have made great strides in many areas since the war, some things never change. Most black Americans are still socially and economically disadvantaged, and still fighting to reach…

Representations of War in the Longest Day and Saving Private Ryan
Hollywood's depictions and interpretations of the events that transpired on D-Day have long captured the attention of audiences worldwide. Though Hollywood depictions of the events that occurred prior, during, and after the invasion of Normandy may vary, they still aim to convey a similar message, one that assures the evil forces in the world will be overthrown and the world will be a much safer place. The Longest Day and Saving Private Ryan aim to present the events that lead up to the invasion of Normandy on D-Day in an artistic and creative fashion while attempting to maintain an air of realism. The approaches taken to depict the invasion of Normandy in The Longest Day and Saving Private Ryan are a positive contribution to the combat film genre. Though creative licenses were taken in each film, the manner in…