Slavery By Another Name is an enormously powerful film that brings to light a period of history, largely ignored, in which many negative stubborn stereotypes—those that still plague society—were deliberately born.
In addition to a screening of the film, 2009 Pulitzer Prize–winner Douglas Blackmon, author of the book of the same name, will join us for a discussion, along with two descendants featured in the film, Sharon Malone and Susan Burnore.
The film Slavery by Another Name challenges one of Americans’ most cherished assumptions: the belief that slavery in this country ended with the Emancipation Proclamation. The film tells how even as chattel slavery came to an end in the South in 1865, thousands of African Americans were pulled back into forced labor with shocking force and brutality. It was a system in which men, often guilty of no crime at all, were arrested, compelled to work without pay, repeatedly bought and sold, and coerced to do the bidding of masters. Tolerated by both the North and South, forced labor lasted well into the 20th century.
The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize–winning book by Wall Street Journal senior writer Douglas A. Blackmon. Award-winning actor Laurence Fishburne, star of eclectic film, television and stage productions, is the narrator of this film.
This event is free and open to the public.
