Historical Accuracy Of Red Tails

Have you ever wondered if the movies that you watch are really historically accurate? If not, how does it change the story? In the film, The Four Feathers, directed by Shekhar Kapur, there are various historical accuracies and inaccuracies. The first paragraph will be an overview of the film. The second paragraph will talk about what was historically accurate in the film while the third is about the historical inaccuracies in it. Finally, the concluding paragraph is about the film's general portrayal of events.

this story that causes controversy because of his skin color. Is the story’s relevance based on Mr. Robinson and his skin color? In my opinion yes, the book revolves all around his skin color and racism of the time. Tom Robinson is treated unfairly because he was black not because of what he supposedly did. The controversial subject matter in this book is immense in numbers, but out of all them, racism stands out the most. A question that has come to mind after reading this book is, today is racism still a hostile problem and as big as it was in the 1930s? Throughout this research paper I will gather information about racism from the 30s, and also today.

The history of the United States in regard to racism and discrimination is no secret. Children are taught about segregation, slavery, and the Civil Rights Movement like the events were purely in the past. In part the events were in the past; however, the results of said events are not. As Americans, we live in a nation with a rough history and, in order to keep growing together, we cannot forget what has happened. Granted, racism is not extinct, but it is most definitely not the norm it was 50 years ago. Many people are not aware of how much racism still exists in our schools, workforces, and anywhere else where social lives are occurring. According to Derrick Bell’s book, Faces at the Bottom of the Well, Bell uses fiction stories to show that racism still exist but has a different form. In American society, racism is still evident today in racial symbols, covert racism and affirmative action.

While we all would agree that racism is immoral and has no place in a modern society, that was not the case in the U.S. in the 1940s. At the time African Americans were treated as second-class citizens, it was made near-impossible for them to vote, and they were discriminated in many ways including in education, socially and in employment. It was a time in which segregation and racism perforated the laws and society, a time in which African Americans were “separate but equal,” segregation was legal and in full force. Apartheid was also everywhere from the books to in society. Blacks were not truly seen as equal as they were seen the the lesser of the two and it very much felt that way. Blacks were oppressed in many ways including having

The Tuskegee Airmen movie was about the hardships that the first African American fighter pilots faced in the United States Army Air Corporation. This movie is based on a true story of how the African Americans pilots battled against racism and for equal rights. They became one of the greatest and fearless fighter pilot teams in the United States during World War II. Hannibal Lee is on a train ride to Tuskegee Air Base in Alabama. He meets two passengers, Walter and Leroi, who are going to join the 99th Fighter Squadron as fight cadets. One example of segregation occurs on the train because these three black airmen are forced to give up their seats for German prisoners because there was no more room to sit. Lieutenant Glenn was the first man they met when they got to Tuskegee. He was the man in charge along with other people in the unit. The people who were training to be cadets were African American, middle class and well educated men.

Throughout the movie Glory, it is clear to viewers that even when black soldiers were fighting in bloody battles to annihilate racism, it was still present in many Americans at the time. True to historical accounts, the movie Glory accurately portrays the racism towards soldiers of the 54th Regiment. When there was high tension between white and black soldiers Trip, one of the more notable and conspicuous characters from the film, was not willing to stand idle while fellow black soldiers were being insulted. This disparagement of the 54th Regiment led Trip to voice his opinion on how he believes blacks should be able to fight. However, his beliefs were perceived to be preposterous to white soldiers due to the color of their skin (Glory). Since

Yancey Williams, who was a student at Howard University, Filed a lawsuit that was backed by the NAACP that forced the air Corps to except him in training. The Corps response was to create a segregated unit to train black pilots and groundsmen at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. The segregated unit disappointed the hopes of the members of the NAACP and the 239 black aviators who comprised of the National Airmen’s Association; they wanted full integration into the Corps. That’s when Tuskegee experiment was born, many members of the experiment believe it was called experiment because they were supposed to fail in the eyes of White men. while they may have been a segregated

It all started when President Roosevelt arranged a meeting in September 1940 with three African-American leaders and members of the Army and Navy. During the meeting, the leaders emphasized three points:(1)equal opportunity for jobs in the defense industry, (2)impartial administration of the new draftlaw, and (3)an opportunity for qualified blacks to learn to fly in desegrated units.*1*

In 1925, Army War College conducted a study which concluded that blacks were mentally inferior and “barely fit for combat.” Throughout World War I, African Americans had fought to show their patriotism, and worthiness of equal rights. They fought to win the respect of their white neighbors. The thing they got in return wasn’t equal rights, but a study saying that blacks weren’t fit for combat. So when World War II came around, blacks were very eager to join because they wanted to prove studies like the 1925 Army War College study wrong. Despite not only proving the study wrong, but also being the best air force unit of World War II, the Tuskegee Airmen were still treated and looked upon as inferior by the very people they fought to protect.

If a movie of this sort had such an emotional impact on me, it is no wonder people embraced these ideas back then. The use of new and popular media methods in those days was more than adequate in transferring the black inferiority ideas to the general public. Beginning at the early 19th century with the happy, dancing, toothless, drunken Negro with big, bold and white lips to the image of the mid 21st century African-American, the media has always used these images to convey inferiority. These images implied inherent traits in the black community. This whole community was represented in the new media as one who can not be collateralized and integrated in to society without being happily enslaved. Most of these images had great commercial values that made it all the more impossible for the rest of the nation not to embrace the African American stereotypes.

The Red Tails were a group of African American fighter pilots that served in world war two. These pilots are known for their skills in the air; they had become one of the best air regiments in the United States military. The white government and the white regiments in the military never believed in the Red Tails; until they proved that they were capable of handling tough missions just like the white soldiers. As was stated, the article states, “In 1940, under pressure from black activists, the press, other political groups and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the USAAC reversed its position on accepting black flight program applicants. However, the brass was not fully committed to this change and anticipated that the program would fail spectacularly.

The history of African Americans in early Hollywood films originated with blacks representing preconceived stereotypes. D.W. Griffith’s 1915 film, Birth of a Nation, stirred many controversial issues within the black community. The fact that Griffith used white actors in blackface to portray black people showed how little he knew about African Americans. Bosley Crowther’s article “The Birth of Birth of a Nation” emphasizes that the film was a “highly pro-South drama of the American Civil War and the Period of Reconstruction, and it glorified the role of the Ku Klux Klan” (76). While viewing this film, one would assert that the Ku Klux Klan members are heroic forces that rescue white women from sexually abusive black men. Griffith

The broadcast presented the experiences of Alix Spiegel, one of its producers, and several other participants in a 19th century runaway slave role play conducted at the Conner Prairie Living History Museum in Indiana. During an almost two hour Underground Railroad simulation called Follow the North Star, these individuals pretended to be slaves trying to escape their bondage and cruel treatment in the South to learn more about history and about themselves. They began the program by meeting the master who humiliated them by creating categories of breeders and bucks, and at this first meeting one girl was so shook up that she removed herself from the remaining activities. Spiegel refers to this initial encounter as bizarre and brutal. At

Although slavery had been abolished eighty-five years earlier, the black community found themselves in a similar predicament as before in terms of racial inequities, discriminations and, overtly white supremacy in every capacity of life; in response, the black community formulated a strategy of appeasement and become submissive to survive in this pseudo “Post-Racial Society”. However, in Ralph Ellison’s short story “Battle Royal” he further asserts this claim;

Films do not simply give someone words and ask them to create a world of their own; films offer a complete other dimension that the viewer belongs to for a few brief hours. Without films like Saving Private Ryan, society would not be able to experience the emotions of, in this case, war, but the emotions of other people in general. Those who watched Milk for the first time were suddenly smacked in the face by the reality of what it was like to stand up for their rights. The audiences of Red Tails saw what it was like to get treated like you were less than someone else, and how people needed to prove their worth to others. None of these films had anything to do with events current from their times of release, but sometimes it is good to empathize with our ancestors. Movies do not need to only ever show people being oppressed in order to connect with an audience though, sometimes it is good to just allow people to feel raw emotions. Crash addresses the oppressed by labeling everyone as oppressed and by also labeling everyone as the oppressor, allowing the film to truly connect to all audiences. Paul Haggis uses the film Crash to portray what stereotypes people really think in, using the language as a vessel to take the audience within their own subconscious.