Twelve Years a Slave (some thoughts).

[fjm]

As by the time I joined LJ I was no longer teaching American history, most of you probably don't know that I taught African American history (17th through the end of the 20th century) for almost a decade. My specialist period was 1880 to 1950 (the civil rights era everyone has forgotten) but I studied US and Carribbean slavery as an undergrad and

Comments

[kjn]

Your last point on how people look is probably true for just about every film made about past times.

How to handle the "small things", yes. History is far too often made into a set narrative, which is then taken for the true thing. I'm not sure if you've read Eric Flint's 1812: The Rivers of War - it's one attempt to show a wider and more detailed picture of the antebellum USA.

Then there is the need to put in the US slavery into its historical context, with the slavery in Brazil and the Caribbean, the impact in Africa, and so on, but then you're going far beyond the beaten paths.

[fjm]

The Flint looks fascinating.

[kjn]

It (and its sequel) is not without its flaws, but it does manage to show that many of the labels we nowadays use to think about the era are very simplified.

I still think it's a pity that the publisher decided to skip the planned second part, Trail of Glory, which would have shown an alternate Cherokee migration.

[kjn]

Another great book series that looks at the period is Barbara Hambly's Benjamin January books, mysteries set in New Orleans with a black protagonist in the 1830s. Starts with A Free Man of Color.

[luninosity]

You know she's on LJ, yes? barbara_hambly

I love her metaphors. And her Latin. :-)

[adrian_turtle]

I haven't actually watched it because it would make me seasick, but I've heard the Master and Commander film did a really good job making the lower deck characters look right. Teeth not looking good, and bodies overall not looking well-cared for the way modern actors generally do.