“They [African Americans] had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect; and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery … ”
– Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), possibly the most infamous decision in Supreme Court history, which created unfortunate barriers to both emancipation and racial equality
Black culture is “inextricably intertwined” with American culture
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. once said that “black culture is inextricably intertwined with American culture.” I tend to agree with this sentiment. It’s almost impossible to talk about the larger history of the United States without talking about black history in some depth. Unfortunately, chattel slavery was a prominent institution during the first 250 years or so of this country’s history. Compromises over slavery were written into the national Constitution (as I describe in this post) – although they were later amended – and the controversy over slavery was at the heart of our Civil War. We still grapple with the ripple effects of slavery today. The civil rights movement was spearheaded by African Americans, who were the most prominent victims of the racial discrimination against which this movement fought. In so many ways, black history is central to American history.
Slavery in Virginia on a tobacco plantation, 1670
It may be the most talked-about of any minority history that has transpired in this country
Because of this, their history is the most talked-about of any ethnic history that has transpired in this country, with the exception of white history. Of other ethnic minority histories, only Native American history seems to come close in this regard today. It is only natural that there should be a television history of the African American people, made by an African American named Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who has studied the subject in some detail. As Wikipedia noted, “It is the first documentary series to recount this history in its entirety since the nine-part History of the Negro People aired on National Educational Television in 1965, and the one-hour documentary Black History: Lost, Stolen, or Strayed, narrated by Bill Cosby and broadcast in 1968.” (See their page on this series.) This series came out in 2013, and covers African American history from its beginnings, all the way through the election of Barack Obama in 2008 (very recent, at the time that I write this).
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the presenter of this series
Coverage of slavery, from the kidnapping of slaves through the early history of the United States
To me, the most interesting episodes were the very first two, although I liked most of the others. (More on those episodes later on in this post.) The first two episodes dealt with the period in which African Americans were enslaved, as the “legal property” of other individuals – usually whites, although some of their owners were fellow black people, as Mr. Gates notes here. Since Mr. Gates is an African American himself, he is able to talk more candidly about how many of these original Africans were kidnapped by fellow black Africans, who made up the majority of the kidnappers. He even interviews some of the descendants of these kidnappers in modern-day Sierra Leone. Nonetheless, he argues that slavery was crueler among the Europeans, who enslaved people based on race. It is possible that Europeans were indeed responsible for this unfortunate innovation, but I’m not sure that they are the true inventors of it. The jury is open on that one, in my book, although it’s possible that he may be right. Mr. Gates skips over some of the earliest history of African Americans on this continent, which is an omission that strikes me as a significant one. Nonetheless, his coverage of his chosen subjects is quite good, and he’s good at bringing his subjects to life for a television audience, which is no small thing for a documentary (or any other storytelling medium, for that matter).
Slave who was brutally whipped
Civil War, Reconstruction, Jim Crow segregation, and the civil rights movement of the 1960’s
His third episode covered the Civil War, which was a watershed for African Americans, and for the country as a whole. It also covers the Reconstruction period, in which there were some major milestones for civil rights. But in this episode, he also covers the two decades or so after Reconstruction, in which a number of these gains were lost. He covers the Jim Crow segregation system, and how it arose in the South. This discussion of segregation is then continued in the fourth and fifth episodes. The fifth episode also discusses the most prominent period of the civil rights movement, and goes through the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968. Curiously, Mr. Gates seems not to have much respect for the nonviolence practiced by Martin Luther King, and instead praises people like Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael, who were sometimes in favor of open violence. Mr. Gates seems to be a product of the 1960’s generation, which did away with the more cautious approach of their parents and grandparents, in favor of somewhat bolder tactics. Their approach has had mixed success, though, and should not be dismissed. They included peaceful tactics like sit-ins and protests, which achieved great gains for African Americans (not to mention many others).
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Comments on the bias of the last episode (the one covering events after 1968)
It seems to be a rule with epic histories that the later episodes are almost always worse than the earlier episodes. Unfortunately, this series is an example of this rule. The sixth and final episode covers events after 1968. In my opinion, it is compromised by radical politics of various sorts. For example, they make the argument that the War on Drugs was “racist” (and I paraphrase them only slightly). They say that the election of Barack Obama was a great moment, but argue that African Americans continued to be “oppressed” despite his election – making one wonder what was so great about his election, if this is indeed true. The complaints about economic inequality do not explicitly call for Marxism, but some sort of redistribution of wealth is almost surely what Mr. Gates has in mind with these comments. It is true that there is indeed poverty in the black community, but socialism is not the answer to these problems. It is a mistake to judge policies by their intentions, rather than their results – and this is never truer than with policies like socialism and communism. In a number of ways, the quality of the last episode is thus compromised by political bias, causing this series to “start with a bang” and end with a whimper. Nonetheless, the earlier episodes are quite good.
Barack Obama
The last episode is not that great, but the first five episodes are among the best that I’ve seen …
So if one watches this series, I recommend taking the last episode with a grain of salt, and not expecting much from it. In fairness, it is quite rare for documentaries to do justice to more recent topics, and quite common for their concluding episodes to be compromised by bias. Concluding episodes sometimes become little more than soapboxes, used to spin the most recent events to their own advantage. But the other five episodes are among the finest that I’ve seen, as judged by their ability to bring their chosen topic to life. They are a good source of information, which would be a good place for someone unfamiliar with this subject to start at. Those who want more depth can always go to a book, or even take a class on the subject. But it’s hard to beat the world of television, in the ability to tell a story. We see the photographs and real footage of the most recent events, and get to see what they really looked like. With comparatively modern subjects, one has that advantage. This allows Mr. Gates to get more visual accuracy with less cost. This may even make it possible to film a documentary like this in the first place.
… so despite its weaknesses, I find this a great series
I am not aware of any television histories of African Americans that have comparable depth and comprehensiveness to this one. This one appears to be the best, and is well worth watching, at least for the first five episodes. It’s good at bringing its story to life, and deserved the various awards and accolades that it received (such as a Peabody Award, and an award from the NAACP).
Martin Luther King, Jr. quote:
“When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’ ”
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