Black in Period Films

  A video about the 2013 adaptation of Christopher Paul Curtis’ 1995 novel The Watsons Go To Birmingham 1963 and the history changing events surrounding the story. Sources American History TV C-Span Colored Conventions Project Documenting the American South (DocSouth) Democracy Now! Hallmark Channel Jet Magazine JFK Library Library of Congress PBS The Library Company of Philadelphia The Martin Luther King, Jr.Research and Education Institute Wikimedia (Uploader: N-gio)

Let me preface this by saying the idea was a wonderful one. Five women in the Wild Wild West go on a quest for revenge. The premise behind most good  Westerns. It is just the execution and historical inaccuracies that I feel fail the movie.  I've made a list: Music doesn't not match the period. Hip-Hop and R&B can be heard through out the entire film. Many of the female characters are wearing bellytops Dialogue : "Now's let's all just chill out for one hot minute." Dialogue : "You feel me baby." Women are seen wearing makeup. Not makeup that fits the period either Dialogue : "Why it gotta be all dat?" Babyface gives Chasity a rhinstone necklace as a gift.  Microphone battery pack can be seen None of the main character's outfits are authentic to the period Many of the women can be seen wearing modern lingerie instead of corsets. The presence of long weaves in 1894 Lil' Kim...

Josiah belongs to the Lawshe family. He lives comfortably in a house of his own with his wife Tobe. Tobe is a Native woman from the Creek Nation. I thought this pairing was very interesting and something I haven't seen in any other film. Charles S. Dutton as Josiah Irene Bedard as Tobe He traveled with Georgia's grandfather when he visited the Creek Indians.  My guess is that this is how Josiah and Tobe meet. I can't be sure however because they never say how they meet. I think his wife delivers one of the most powerful lines in the series.  He wants Tobe to rejoin her people so she'll be safe and she says: "If the white man must exile my people, if he must make slaves of your people and if my family despises the darkness of your skin where can we go?" Their relationship is so beautiful. Even without tons of characterization the love between them is clear. Sadly Josiah's story ends ...

This is a mini series based on the 1993 novel of the same name by Janice Woods Windle . It runs at minutes long and is broken into 2 parts. I decided to talk about the series by character. There are four black characters in True Women. All are slaves.  There's Josiah , Tildy , Ed Tom , and Martha .  Overall I think their stories are well told, considering the fact that they aren't main characters.  Besides the 4 main characters that happen to be black. Blacks are seen throughout the entire film.  I would recommend this series especially the parts with the character Georgia (played by Angelina Jolie). I don't want to ruin the plot but suffice it to say the complexities of her life make for a very interesting story.  Here is the trailer: