With incredibly detailed historical reenactments, expert commentary, and the stories of slavery told through first-hand accounts, this is an epic struggle 400 years in the making. A journey into the past like none other. This is the story of these men and women who by their hands laid the foundation of what would become the most powerful nation on Earth. Join us as we rise … UP FROM SLAVERY.
“1619: Up from Slavery” is a straightforward documentary but powerful nonetheless. Director Kevin R. Hershberger uses re-enactments with actors in period-appropriate costumes filmed on plantations and in the wilderness. Hershberger’s style also has a Ken Burns approach, with the use of old photos, illustrations, and historical letters narrated by different actors. Over the six hours of episodes, the heart-wrenching and educational experience of slavery is told in chronological order.
The first chapter begins with how African men and women were forcibly taken from their western shores and how some more diabolical Europeans, made deals with local tribes to enslave others. More than twelve million people were forced on the brutal middle passage, and over one million died during the trip. After realizing so many people were dying due to lack of fresh water and other hazardous surroundings aboard, the slave traders made meager increases to their living quarters. The use of slave labor was due to Europeans’ “sweet tooth” and the supply and demand for sugar made an explosion of sugar plantations. The crisis of consumerism is not dissimilar to our current times. Poor, often young Congolese children work in mines to get the materials for our Apple and Android smartphones. The slave trade evolved into the triangle trade, which was the sum of sugar, rum, and slaves. Slaves would turn sugar into molasses which was given to slave traders who would bring it to the New England colonies and turn it into rum. The firewood necessary for distilling the rum was scarce in the Caribbean but plentiful in the New England colonies. The rum was then given to the traders for the molasses and they exchanged the rum in Africa for more slaves. “Time is a flat circle” as Rust Cohl brilliantly stated in season one of HBO’s “True Detective,” it seems humans are destined to repeat the same ills over and over again.
The first African slaves arrived in the Spanish colonies of North America in the early 1500s. In 1526 in what is now the Carolinas, there was a revolt against the leadership and in a rare happy ending, the slaves escaped and lived with the local natives. Dutch traders brought the first slaves to the New England colonies.
The use of indentured servitude, or having a contract or lease on ones’ lives, made it easier for Virginian tobacco plantation owners to buy and sell human beings. The new laws enacted became inherently more racist and dehumanizing. Runaway indentured servants would be punished with a lifetime sentence of servitude to their master. If slaves birthed a child, they would be also forced into slavery. The international slave trade was outlawed in 1807 but continued in the United States until 1865. The structures of oppressive power were laid down in this era. Overseers on horseback would police plantation to protect capital and their wealthy owners. Today police on horseback also enact oppressive measures to install fear and protect corporate interests.
I was astounded to learn an archaeologist estimated that the earth moved using basic hand tools in Virginia and Georgia for rice plantations by forming massive 15×15 foot banks, was equivalent to the construction of an ancient Pyramid. I think it’s important to remember our difficult history to overcome our current woes. It’s difficult when people whitewash the history of George Washington who kept his large number of slaves in such deplorable conditions that his French visitors were appalled. During the American Revolution, black troops were popular in the British ranks but the Americans rarely allowed them with only roughly 5,000 soldiers enlisted. This lack of diversity also led to further inequality with most troops being forced to return to slave labor after fighting for their country’s freedom. “1619: Up from Slavery” is a tough watch but I highly recommend it to everyone no matter how old you are, history is always an integral part of understanding our modern world.
Now available on DVD from Mill Creek Entertainment
