Black in Period Films

Day 26 Black History Month Write It! Series *Photo of the Day* Peter Dupree and Un-named Wife. Dupree enlisted in the Union Army in 1864 and was killed in 1864. Photo most likely taken in Kirkwood, Missori. We don't know the name of his wife or how she coped with their separation after his enlistment. I want a film that gives this couple a story. A period film about the wives of the black soldiers in the union army. Additional Links Blacks Soldiers in the Civil War - https://goo.gl/wewrVY

Set during the Civil War, the drama follows the true story of defiant Southern farmer, Newt Knight, and his extraordinary armed rebellion against the Confederacy: banding together with other small farmers and with the assistance of local slaves, Knight launched an uprising that led Jones County, Mississippi to secede from the Confederacy, creating a Free State of Jones. His marriage to a former slave, Rachel, and his subsequent establishment of a mixed race community was unique in the post-war South. Knight continued his struggle into Reconstruction, distinguishing him as a compelling, if controversial, figure of defiance long beyond the War. Gugu Mbatha-Raw is playing his mixed race wife Rachel and Mahershala Ali is playing a runaway slave named Moses Washington.  I can honestly say this is one of the first movies centered around a Confederate solider that I am actually looking forward to. 

Mercy Street is a new series debuting in 2016. The series 'follows the lives of two volunteer nurses on opposing sides of the Civil War - New England abolitionist Mary Phinney and Confederate supporter Emma Green.' I saw two beautiful pictures of Shalita Grant as Aurelia Johnson and McKinley Belcher III as Samuel Digg on IMDB .                They look very nice. I just hope their characters are given adequate screen time.