A Few Fast Facts For You

1.  There are 566 recognized Indian tribes, but there might be more unrecognized ones
2. Almost 30% of Indians live below the poverty line
3. Over 8,000 Indians served in WWI
4. 3/4 of the people on Indian Reservations aren't Indians
5. Native American babies are over 50% more likely to die than white babies
6. Native Americans are more likely to be overweight
7. Dakota is an Indian word that means allies
8. Barbecue is an Indian word that means framework of sticks
9. Avocado is an Indian word that means testicle
10. Indians probably came to America 20,000 years ago on the land bridge
11. Indians helped Lewis and Clark explore America
12. Some Indians thought that corn was actually a female goddess.
13. Indians are almost 3 times as likely to die of diabetes
14. Indians got horses from the Spaniards and quickly began to use them
15. The first treaty with Indians was in 1787
16. More Native Americans serve in the military per capita than any other race
17. Navajo has the greatest population of Indians in the United States.
18. An Indian tribe constructed 700 miles of irrigation during Roman times.
19. Log Cabins were a derivative from an Indian cabin
20. Smallpox brought a population of Indians from 1,600 to just 130

Why Movies Should be Used to Teach

I am a firm believer in the use of numerous mediums to learn a subject. Watching a movie is no exception to this. History is not solely confined to the medium of a unwieldy paper book filled with hundreds of pages that the students will more than likely forget a matter of days after reading. Not only this, but with the medium of a movie you can experience history in a whole new way being able to see it as if you were actually there, rather than just reading about it in a textbook, a point which both the movie Glory and 12 Years a Slave do brilliantly. It is not only possible but even more likely that students will better be able to explore real events, circumstances, and attitudes just by watching movies.

12 Years a Slave is an excellent example of a movie that can speak volumes about a time period. Just as History Professor Emma McFarmon stated, “I have never seen a film represent slavery so accurately. “ (Atlantic). This just goes to show that even historians of the highest level can truly see the value that movies hold towards teaching history. 12 Years a Slave tells a story that was all too common during slavery. Through the movie, you can really visual how African Americans were treated during this time period. It puts a graphic image in your head that I believe would not easily be thought of only by reading. It provides a reality to the things we have always heard but never been able to comprehend about slavery. This is not to say that it paints all white men out to be evil slave driving devil figures, as the man who rescues Soloman after being a slave for so long is in fact a white male. In fact, in the book 12 Years a Slave, Soloman even goes so far as to say, “There was never a more kind, noble, candid, Christian man than William Ford.”(Atlantic) stating family clearly that not all white males were some evil creatures during that time period, another showing of a movie being able to break preconceptions that have been ingrained in us through years of textbook teaching.

Glory is another excellent movie about the Civil War in which an all black regiment is the one focused on. This is another instance of the general public getting a chance to see the world through a whole different set of lens’, really experiencing life during that time period. This is not to say that there are no historical inaccuracies in the movie Glory, but with an amount of research most would deem minuscule, you can find those inaccuracies and still learn a plethora of facts about the time period from the movie (Ashland). Just as Mr. Bernstein said so profoundly, the movie Glory is trying to tell a “…truth truer than the literal truth”. I believe that that is the beauty of film as a medium for learning. It is okay if there are some historical inaccuracies with the plot, as I believe that as a student of history it is not my job to know in which direction Fort Sumter was attacked, rather I believe that as a student of history I must be an expert on relations throughout history, focusing on how people behaved and why they behaved that way rather than small facts that ultimately remain unimportant for the general population.

Even movies have some mistakes, this is just a fact as everything can never be perfect. Hollywood has a very big problem of making the savior of every race relation movie during the 1800s a white male, as seen in both 12 Years a Slave and Glory through the Canadian carpenter and the leader of the regiment respectively.(Atlantic) What’s just as well Hollywood makes slavery out to be some sort of obstacle that can be overcome, which is much more prevalent in movies like Django Unchained. This, however, does not appear in 12 Years a Slave and in fact, the one time that they attempt to rebel against their captors in the movie, one man dies. Slavery is not some obstacle, it is “a systemic evil that leaves those in its grasp with no good choices.”(Atlantic).

With all of this said, I do believe that a way of learning history that is perhaps even better than solely reading from a textbook is through the medium of film. It allows the student to actively see elements of a time period that he may either overlook or misinterpret through reading. It also allows for a deeper understanding of what people were going through, putting a face to pain that today is unimaginable. While minor facts may be left out of a movie solely for the purpose that it must be around two hours long, this is not to say that the movie is any less of a resource for the teaching community as a whole. It is only to say that there might be some light research on the topic. Movies just allow an understanding that is otherwise more often that not unachievable. Once you have this understanding, you look at the time period and at all of history in a completely new way.

An Example of a pain that can't easily be thought of solely from a text book. From Google Images



Sources:

Link 1 12 years a slave awards

Link 2 Glory Box office and Critics

Link 3 Atlantic 12 years Historical accuracy

Link 4 Glory Ashland University

Link 5 Atlantic Purpose of 12 Years

Link 6 Atlantic White Savior

Direct Quote Set Up Ow Owwww

People who question the historical accuracy of the movie Glory should be pointed to this film critic's research

"I found one of the letters of Col. Robert Gould Shaw online, which generally verifies the burning of the town which was shown in the film." Film Critic

Reflection:

I learned that the process of paraphrasing is very strenuous but is also very useful for effective writing. Direct quoting can help you to back up a point really well and paraphrasing can help when you think someone had said something really well and you want to say something similar to help strengthen your own paper.

What Mrs. Lawson Wanted me to Learn:

Only use a quote when it adds power and style to my writing

Always make it clear, from context, that I understand the full meaning of the quote

Whether I quote or paraphrase, always be transparent about the source and how I'm using it

If I use another author's exact words or phrases, to any extent, I have to use quotation marks and give credit

If I use another author's presentation of facts or ideas, but put their ideas in my own words, I better have a good reason for doing that, and I must give credit

Hyperlinking is so easy, there is no excuse for not being transparent about my sources

I understand these things.

Paraphrase a Quote

"The assault on Battery Wagner was attacked on the wrong side in the movie, and it also suggests that over ½ of the regiment was lost during the assault. However, official records state that they had 272 casualties, which is closer to 40%. Lastly, the way in which they whipped and flagged the black soldiers is historically inaccurate because the practice of flogging had been outlawed before the civil war..."Glory Stuff



This is my paraphrase: In the movie Glory the military base Battery Wagner was attacked on an incorrect side and most of the people (more than 50%) died during the battle. The actual battle records say that there was 272 soldiers that died during the battle, which would only be 40% of the soldiers in the regiment. Finally, the whipping of the character that was played by Denzel Washington is grossly untrue because the act of whipping soldiers is something that was no longer lawful by that time period.

Sympathy Vs. Empathy

I learned that empathy involves stepping into someone's shoes to truly understand how they feel. It involves an active intellectual attempt to understand what is happening to someone. This differs from sympathy because empathy doesn't require any emotional response and sympathy is only an emotional response. Sympathy is feeling sorry for someone, feeling pity for them, even though you don't really relate to their situation. An example of empathy without experiencing is understanding the pain people went through during the holocaust even though you've never been treated that poorly. You just have to use your mind to comprehend and put yourself in their shoes. You can also empathize with a sociopath, like many criminal investigators do, to understand why they behave like they do. Empathy is key in studying history because it helps you understand what preconceptions made people behave the ways they did in certain situations. Without empathy it is very difficult to understand certain historical actions you are studying. 

Empathy