![]() ![]() Griffith’s 1915 “The Birth of a Nation,” with its racist images of rapacious, animalistic behavior, being a key element, leading to a major revival of the Ku Klux Klan and an increase in lynchings. The answer turned out to be mass arrests for minor crimes such as loitering and vagrancy and the creation of a system of convict leasing that allowed prisoners to work for private parties.Īt the same time, what one academic calls “the mythology of black criminality” was created, with D.W. The film’s premise is that while the 13th Amendment to the Constitution eliminated slavery and involuntary servitude, it in effect had an unintentional loophole that asserted “except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.”įor the South after the end of the Civil War, says University of Connecticut professor Jelani Cobb, the question became how to replace the 4 million slaves who were the critical component of the region’s economic system. Alex Wilson, later the editor of the Chicago Defender, is especially chilling).Īnd music plays a key role as well, not only with songs like Nina Simone’s version of “Work Song” heard on the sound track, but with key words from rap lyrics like Public Enemy’s “Don’t Believe the Hype” appearing as arresting large type on the screen.Īs put together by DuVernay’s longtime editor, Spencer Averick (who also shares co-writing credit with the director), everything in “13th” illuminates what is convincingly presented as a sad and tragic story that we are still living today. In addition to these incisive talking heads, “13th” provides a great deal of newsreel and documentary material (footage of a white Little Rock mob beating up black journalist L. Cory Booker, Newt Gingrich and Grover Norquist - it is because there is so much to deal with. If it is packed with facts, statistics and on-camera thoughts - from top-drawer academics like Henry Louis Gates, Michelle Alexander (author of the groundbreaking “The New Jim Crow”) and Angela Davis as well as assorted notables including Sen. ![]() Offering a brisk, cogently argued alternative to the conventionally taught American story, allied in that sense to Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States,” DuVernay gives us a documentary that systematically covers a lot of territory, a century and a half of race relations in this country in fact. Or sign up for our daily email and get a daily dose of Open Culture in your inbox.Named after the constitutional amendment that ended slavery, DuVernay’s follow up to best picture Oscar nominee “Selma” reminds us that this state of affairs did not take place overnight. ![]() It’s hard to rely 100% on ads, and your contributions will help us continue providing the best free cultural and educational materials to learners everywhere.Īlso consider following Open Culture on Facebook and Twitter and sharing intelligent media with your friends. Would you like to support the mission of Open Culture? Please consider making a donation to our site. Update: During the month of June, DuVernay’s film, Selma, is also streaming free online. prison system and “how the country’s history of racial inequality drives the high rate of incarceration in America.” It won Best Documentary at the Emmys, the BAFTAs and the NAACP Image Awards. Combining archival footage with testimony from activists and scholars, DuVernay’s documentary focuses on the U.S. Above, you can watch Ava DuVernay’s Oscar-nominated film 13th. Earlier today, we highlighted some free cinematic offerings online, including the new civil rights film Just Mercy, and a slew of films in the Criterion Collection made by African American directors. ![]()
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