Throughout The Course Of The Semester, We Have Covered

Movies and entertainment outlets speak volumes about the current state of a nation’s culture. Cinematic creations in the United States allow small voices to be heard and controversial issues to be addressed. However, a repetitive and monumental issue continues to be addressed, yet continues to persist in our 21st century culture, racial inequalities. Since the inception of the United States, black men and women alike have been disenfranchised at the hands of the “white man” in America. Instead of continuing the conversation today, the issue is continually silenced referencing the successes and achievements of the Civil Rights Movement in the 20th century. Nonetheless, an unfortunate reality looms upon this great land; racially based systems and structures continue to exist in 2015 the in United States. This paper synthesizes three films focused on racial inequalities in different time periods. Separate but Equal (1991), Selma (2015), and Crash (2005) illustrate how influential the Civil War amendments are, while serving as an uncanny reminder of how the racial prejudices during the 20th century continue to exist in our great nation today. Needless to say our nation has made great strides, but still has a long way to go.

This is proof that this terrible act was very typical within slaveholding societies. Now, just because this relationship seems usual in the south, it does not mean everyone condoned it. The wives of many slave owners proved they were not okay with a white male and a black female relationship by the way they acted with “anger and resentment” towards other slaves (McLaurin, 26). Wives chose to ignore this behavior simply because if they didn’t, not only would their lives be in danger, but so would their children’s.

Before he was even taken aboard the slave ship, Equiano experienced the cruel and unsympathetic tactics of his white captors when his sister “was torn from [him], and immediately carried away” despite their pleas and ceaseless weeping (Equiano 46). Similar to the actions of Byrd, Equiano’s captors expressed little regard to the sentiments of African slaves, though it was undeniable that they, too, felt painfully real, human emotions despite their difference in skin color. Similar to Byrd’s account of inappropriate conduct between a young servant from the capitol, Equiano describes the brutality that many women faced, stating that “it was almost a constant practice with [the] clerks, and other whites, to commit violent depredations on the chastity of the female slaves,” even on girls as young as ten years old (Equiano 48-49). Equiano, unlike Byrd, shows remorse for his actions, admitting that “with reluctance, [he] obliged to submit to [these acts] at all times, being unable to help [the women],” unlike his white masters who assaulted their victims for their own gratification (Equiano 49). Similar to the exaggerated punishments distributed by Byrd to his slaves, Equiano recounts how whites staked a black man “to the ground” and cut his ears off “bit by bit” because he had had relations with “a white woman who was a common prostitute (Equiano 49). This horrific description shows the irony present present in interactions between white masters and black slaves when one race commits a crime against the other. It also displays the disregard shown to the pain tolerated by slaves at the hands of their

This is followed by five chapters. Chapter one, “Disorderly Women and the Struggle for Authority,” explores how the non-white women of colonial North Carolina were viewed by white men and also how Quaker women existed in colonial North Carolina. Chapter two, “Cross-Cultural Sex in Native North Carolina,” explores the sexual relationships between people of different races and how the laws against intermarriage “defined racial boundaries (86).” Chapter three, “Sexual Regulation of Servant Women and Subcultures of Resistance,” explore the ideas of infanticide, pregnancy in court, and the importance of economic class in court. Chapter four, “White Reputations Blackened and Made Loose,” explores how “whiteness” became the ideal race, but “whiteness” became more of an idea rather than a physical representation. Chapter five, “Sexualized Violence and Embodiment of Rape,” analyzes the use of torture and rape in colonial North Carolina. The text ends with an epilogue refocusing on the ways the race gained multiple

In a time period when women were considered inferior, as were blacks, it was unimaginable the horrors a black woman in the south had to endure during this period. African women were slaves and subject to the many horrors that come along with being in bondage, but because they were also women, they were subject to the cruelties of men who look down on women as inferior simply because of their sex. The sexual exploitation of these females often lead to the women fathering children of their white masters. Black women were also prohibited from defending themselves against any type of abuse, including sexual, at the hands of white men. If a slave attempted to defend herself she was often subjected to further beatings from the master. The black female was forced into sexual relationships for the slave master’s pleasure and profit. By doing this it was the slave owner ways of helping his slave population grow.

The film reminds us that “slavery and its aftermath involved the emasculation-physical as well as psychological - of black men, the drive for black power was usually taken to mean a call for black male power, despite the needs of (and often with the complicity of) black women. That continues to result in the devaluing of black female contributions to the liberation struggle and in the subordination of black women in general.”4

The Myth of the Black Rapist, according to Davis’s Rape, Racism, and the Myth of the Black Rapist, “has been methodically conjured up whenever recurrent waves of violence and terror against the Black community have required convincing justifications.” So, a seed would be planted that an African American raped someone in hopes that it would help in their sentencing. It functioned as a form of social control because no one would stand up to support them; even if it was blatantly obvious that this male didn’t rape anyone, no one wanted to go against the “norm.” “The myth of the black rapist of white women is the twin of the myth of the bad black woman-both designed to apologize for and facilitate the continued exploitation of black men and women”

Thomas Lowry intrigues the reader with juicy information revealed of the minimally discussed aspect of sex during the civil war. "The Story the Soldiers Wouldn 't Tell is based on diligent investigation of primary sources rather than on ex cathedra pronouncements" (Krick, Robert, ix). This book reveals a candid look at some of the less savory activities of our ancestors. He touches on all topics to include: masturbation, prostitution, homosexuality, rape, marriage, love, sexually transmitted diseases, pornographic book and cards, women disguised as men in the Army, abortion and birth control techniques, and the sentencing of men for rape convictions. Lowry proves that in spite of the mores of the time period, the good and bad or private and covered sexual activities commencing, were all common normal sexual activity.

White explores the master’s sexual exploitation of their female slaves, and proves this method of oppression to be the defining factor of what sets the female slaves apart from their male counterparts. Citing former slaves White writes, “Christopher Nichols, an escaped slave living in Canada, remembered how his master laid a woman on a bench, threw her clothes over her head, and whipped her. The whipping of a thirteen-year-old Georgia slave girl also had sexual overtones. The girl was put on all fours ‘sometimes her head down, and sometimes up’ and beaten until froth ran from her mouth (33).” The girl’s forced bodily position as well as her total helplessness to stop her master’s torture blatantly reveals the forced sexual trauma many African females endured.

   Violence seems to be quite a common topic in black American literature of the first decades of the 20th century. One major reason for this is probably that it was important for black authors not to be quiet about the injustices being done to them. The violence described in the texts is not only of the physical kind, but also psychological: the constant harassment and terrorising. The ever-present violence had such an effect on the black that they just could not fight back to stop the injustices.

The text notes a quote by Governor Blease stating his belief in how adultery is the most favorite past-time of the African American women and doubts about whether the crime of rape can be committed upon and African American. When such views highly sexualizing and de-humanizing the African Americans were prevalent in white men in power, they preyed on and abused African American women. Such women who came to free their prisoner relatives/husbands were abused and raped for example; the justice system, ran by the same white men, also turned a blind eye to cases of rape and sexual assault upon African Americans. (305)

With the symbolic removal of genitalia, sexual medical experiments, and forced reproductive surgery, sexual brutality is a prominent theme throughout “The Underground Railroad.” In each instance where sexual brutality occurs, it is used to dehumanize African Americans. Given that the premise of Gates’ theory is that African American literature themes go to expose the different tools of dehumanization, the theme of sexual brutality is in accordance with Gates’

“Some black girls walked along the street undisturbed, while others were harassed” (p.69). Even after consciously planning to avoid areas where they were likely to get harassed it casually happened and was treated as if it were a social norm, commonly being ignored. She shows how experiences with street harassment and insult contributed to how girls learned racial difference, sexuality, and the meaning of being a black woman in a Jim Crow city. Simmons discusses several methods black girls used to deal with the burdens of facing uninvited sexual aggression while remaining pure.  Simmons uses sexuality to back her argument of the “double bind,” which is mainly directed towards being a female but also is racially induced because black women were considered last when in terms of life style and during Jim Crow.

[1] Before I start this essay, I feel the need to remind the reader that I find slavery in all its forms to be an oppressive and terrible institution, and I firmly believe that for centuries (including this one) bigotry is one of the most terrible stains on our civilization. The views I intend to express in the following essay are in no way meant to condone the practices of slavery or racism; they are meant only to evaluate and interpret the construction of slavery in film.

In both “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song” and “Do the Right Thing” the relationship between blackness and violence fluctuates between a mode of aggression and a tool of survival. Both films consistently attempt to represent violence by blacks as a symptom of white dominance and brutality. In “Sweet Sweetback” black violence is perceived by the dominant white institutions (i.e. the police and the officers) as an act of intentional aggression. White perception deems that blacks will be violent – both physically and sexually – because they are naturally violent. It is the responsibility of the whites to protect society from the hypersexual, hyper-violent black male (Class Discussions, 2014). Such is the case when police officers storm the hotel room in search of Sweetback only to find a black male naked with a white woman in the bed, presumably after having sex. The officers were quick to physically attack both individuals, though the black man received a longer and harsher punishment. Their response highlights the taboo nature of black and white relations in “Sweetback” as well as the dominant fear of black males as sexual aggressors who take advantage of white women whenever possible (Class Discussions, 2014).