Product Description
SLAVERY AND THE MAKING OF AMERICA is
a landmark, four-part series that examines the history of slavery in
the United States and the integral role it played in shaping the new
country's development.
Breaking with conventional
documentary production approaches, the series producers, PBS's
Thirteen/WNET New York, have used dramatic re-enactments to take viewers
back in time and deep into the slave experience. Much of the story is
presented from a unique vantage point - through the eyes of the
enslaved.
As factually represented in this series,
American slavery evolved from a loosely defined labor system which
provided some protection under the law, into the tightly regulated
enslavement without recourse, based solely on race.
Underscoring how slavery impacted the growth of this country's Southern
and Northern states; the series examines issues still relevant today.
The variety of cultures from which the slaves originated provided the
budding states with a multitude of skills that had a dramatic effect on
the diverse communities. From joining the British in the Revolutionary
War, to fleeing to Canada, to joining rebel communities in the U.S., the
slaves sought freedom in many ways, ultimately having a far-reaching
effect on the new hemisphere they were forced to inhabit.
Acclaimed actor Morgan Freeman narrates the series, which features a score by Michael Whalen.
Programs in this series:
Program 1: The Downward Spiral
Program 2: Liberty in the Air
Program 3: Seeds of Destruction
Program 4: The Challenge of Freedom
Vol 1 - The Downward Spiral
Episode one opens in the 1620s with the introduction of 11 men of
African descent and mixed ethnicity into slavery in New Amsterdam.
Working side by side with white indentured servants, these men labored
to lay the foundations of the Dutch colony that would later become New
York. There were no laws defining the limitations imposed on slaves at
this point in time. Enslaved people, such as Anthony d'Angola, Emmanuel
Driggus, and Frances Driggus could bring suits to court, earn wages, and
marry. But in the span of a hundred years, everything changed. By the
early 18th century, the trade of African slaves in America was
expanding to accommodate an agricultural economy growing in the hands
of ambitious planters. After the 1731 Stono Rebellion (a violent
uprising led by a slave named Jemmy) many colonies adopted strict "black
codes" transforming the social system into one of legal racial
oppression.
Vol 2 - Liberty in the Air
From the 1740s to the 1830s, the institution of slavery continued to
support economic development. As the slave population reproduced,
American planters became less dependent on the African slave trade.
Ensuing generations of slaves developed a unique culture that blended
elements of African and American life. Episode two follows the paths of
several African Americans, including Thomas Jefferson's slave Jupiter,
Colonel Tye, Elizabeth Freeman, David Walker, and Maria Stewart,
as they respond to the increasingly restrictive system of slavery. At
the core of this episode is the Revolutionary War, an event which
reveals the contradictions of a nation seeking independence while
simultaneously denying freedom to its black citizens.
Vol 3 - Seeds of Destruction
One by one the Northern states, led by Vermont in 1777, adopted laws to
abolish and phase out slavery. Simultaneously, slavery in the Southern
United States entered the period of its greatest expansion. Episode
three, which starts at the beginning of the 1800s, examines slavery's
increasing divisiveness in America as the nation develops westward and
cotton replaces tobacco as the country's most valuable crop. The episode
weaves national events through the personal histories of two African
American slaves -- Harriet Jacobs and Louis Hughes -- who not only
managed to escape bondage, but also exposed the horrific realities of
the slave experience in autobiographical narratives. These and other
stories of physical, psychological, and sexual exploitation fed the
fires of a reinvigorated abolitionist movement. With a diverse
membership comprised
of men and women, blacks and whites, and led by figures including
Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and Amy Post, abolitionist
sentiment gathered strength in the North, contributing to the widening
fissure and imminent break-up of the nation.
Vol 4 -The Challenge of Freedom
Episode four looks at Civil War and Reconstruction through the
experiences of South Carolina slave Robert Smalls. It chronicles Smalls'
daring escape to freedom, his military service, and his tenure as a
congressman after the war. As the events of Smalls' life unfold, the
complexities of this period in American history are revealed. The
episode shows the transformation of the war from a struggle for union to
a battle over slavery. It examines the black contribution to the war
effort and traces the gains and losses of newly freed African Americans
during Reconstruction. The 13th amendment abolished slavery in 1865, the
14th and 15th amendments guaranteed black civil rights, and the
Freedmen's Bureau offered aid to former slaves throughout the 1870s.
Yet simultaneously, the formation of militant groups, such as the Ku
Klux Klan threatened the future of racial equality and segregation laws
began to appear across the country. Slavery's eradication had not
brought an end to black oppression.
- MPAA rating
:
NR (Not Rated)
- Director
:
William R. Grant
- Media Format
:
Multiple Formats, Closed-captioned, NTSC, Color, Subtitled
- Run time
:
4 hours
- Release date
:
February 8, 2005
- Actors
:
Morgan Freeman
- Subtitles:
:
English, Spanish
- Studio
:
Ambrose Video
- Number of discs
:
4