Author: ambos.14

Text Review -“The Help”

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For this assignment, the first movie I thought of was “The Help” which is based off a book written by Kathryn Stockett published in 2009. The movie is about an aspiring author writing a book from the point of view of African American maids working for white families and their everyday life during the civil rights movement. In Jackson, Mississippi, the setting of the movie, many white families hired African American help to perform everyday tasks, like cooking and cleaning, as well as to raise their children. Within the movie, the two main African American maids were Minny and Aibileen.  With many laws and negative views regarding sharing details about their treatment and lives as maids, Minny and Aibileen, as well as others, spoke up to share their stories with Skeeter. Skeeter was a recent journalist graduate from Old Miss who moved back to Jackson to start her writing career. Being one of the white children raised by an African American woman and viewing the hardships they endured, she decided to take a risk and create a story where the maids told their stories. The movie brings to light the racism and sexism occurring during the 1960s.

This movie addressed and discussed many of the social injustices prevalent during that time. One of the main social injustices throughout the whole movie was racism. African American men and women were treated completely different than white men and women. Even though slavery was abolished, in the south there still remained laws like Jim Crow that allowed African Americans to be treated unequally. The movie showed places being separated based on race, African Americans not being payed minimum wage, and still being treated like slaves. Within the movie, a law was trying to be passed by Hilly, a white woman, where African American maids were not able to use the same bathroom as the family living in that home. Racism was the main social injustice within this movie, but many in the south didn’t see it that way. Like the comment in the movie made by Hilly, “Be careful, there are some real racist out there.” Another social injustice that was shown in the movie, but not as prevalent as racism, was sexism. For African American and white women, the men controlled the household. White women were not supposed to work, which is why many women told Skeeter to find a husband so she could quit her job and have children. Women were not supposed to state their opinions on social injustices like Skeeter and the African American maids did when telling and writing their stories. The movie displayed many of the social injustices like racism and sexism during the 1960s.

The completely different lifestyles of the white and African American characters within the movie relate to the ideas of subalterns. Within the movie and the south during the 1960s, African Americans were considered the subalterns. African Americans had the voice to speak, but white men and women held the power to not allow them to be heard. This results in the subalterns have not having a voice. By the end of the movie, the subalterns or African Americans started to become heard by those in power, white men and women, by publishing their book revealing the truths about their jobs and lives. The subalterns started added value and knowledge to a conversation which gained the ability to be heard.

Context Research Presentation- Black Panther

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The Black Panther is a marvel movie that came out in 2018 and was a box office hit that produced over a billon dollars (Smith). The movie has made many advancements for African Americans in the film industry since it was directed and acted by African Americans. Throughout the Black Panther, numerous topics like racism and colonialism were prevalent as well as Pan-Africanism. Pan-Africanism is the idea that people of African descent should be unified (Kuryla). During the 19th century, the idea of Pan-Africanism came about by African American individuals in the United States and Africa. The idea was introduced to the world in 1900 at the Pan-African Conference (Maloney). At the conference, many of the worlds African American leaders attended to discuss Pan-Africanism and its cause, which is racism and colonialism. The leaders at the conference agreed that African people need to unite to overcome the colonialism and racism that is throughout the world. By eliminating those factors, the unity of Africa can be achieved.

The idea of Pan-Africanism was introduced within the Black Panther. The movie takes place is Wakanda which is a highly developed and technological advanced country, but they allow the rest of the world to believe they are undeveloped. Part of the ideas of Pan-Africanism is to create societies that reclaim their country’s power, history, and culture. Wakanda and its leaders protect their country by staying hidden. They don’t want the rest of the world to take their power source, vibranium, or the culture they have built. Another reason that Wakanda stays hidden from the rest of the world is to limit the possible racism they could face. They are an extremely powerful country, so if other nations and countries were able to discover them, they could face racism for being strong leaders. Wakanda and the people living there oppose the racist idea that African Americans are unable to be powerful leaders and have great wealth or technology.

At the end of the movie, T’Challa, the leader of Wakanda and the Black Panther, starts to share Wakanda’s resources with the rest of the world. They believe in the support and aid that countries can provide to each other rather than colonialism. Another one of the ideas of Pan-Africanism is that colonialism must be eliminated for unity of Africa and African people. The movie shows that Wakanda is a prime example where countries can be successful and unite without the colonization of other countries. The Black Panther is a great superhero movie, but by looking at it in a different light, can exemplify relevant topics within the world and society.

 

Work Cited:

Kuryla, Peter. “Pan-Africanism”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 Oct. 2020, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pan-   Africanism. Accessed 3 Apr. 2021.

Maloney, Wendi A. “African-American History Month: First Pan-African Congress.” African-American History Month: First Pan-African Congress , Library of Congress, 19 Feb. 2019, blogs.loc.gov/loc/2019/02/african-american-history-month-first-pan-african-congress/. Accessed 3 Apr. 2021.

Onyango, Rosemary A. “Echoes of Pan Africanism in Black Panther.” Journal of Pan African Studies, vol. 11, no. 9, Aug. 2018, p. 39+. Accessed 3 Apr. 2021.

Smith, Jamil. “How Marvel’s Black Panther Marks a Major Milestone.” Time, Time, time.com/black-panther/. Accessed 3 Apr. 2021.

 

 

Diary of Systemic Injustices: Diversity in Congress- Michaela Ambos

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With the current Black Lives Matter movement within the United States and the recent election, I researched the representation of African Americans within the United States Congress. Throughout the years, African Americans have started to gain more and more representation within the United States government. Here is a chart showing the subtle increase of African American members over time in Congress:

From the chart, the 116th congress which was in 2018 “was the most diverse ever with 57 members out of 535 being African American” (History, Art & Archives, U.S. House of Representatives). The inequality that African Americans were experiencing reflected on the injustices that were occurring throughout the United States. Without proper representation in the United States government, changes could not be vocalized by members of the black community. During the civil rights movement, African Americans were trying to make changes to get equal representation and have laws modified. It wasn’t until 1870 that the first African Americans were elected into Congress (History, Art & Archives, U.S. House of Representatives). African Americans are not the only race and gender that is experiencing injustices and poor representation within the United States government. Since the start of Congress and the United States, white men have run the government as president and congress members. Through changes and movements by many genders and races, African Americans as well as women have been able to take part in Congress. The social injustices of improper representation of African Americans and even women in the United States government have reflected on the injustices within society like abortion, education, and health care. Changes are trying to be made, but without members of the community wanting to make those changes in government minimal laws will be changed or modified.

A text that relates to the inequality of African American as well as women and other races is “Can the Subaltern Speak”. As stated on the module page titled “Spivak’s ‘Can the Subaltern Speak’”, “Subalterns are fragmented groups of marginalized people who are without power; subalterns have no access to the power structures under which they live.” Even though government has changed throughout the years, in the early days of Congress, African Americans, women, and other races had no access to power. Their voices were limited to what white men in Congress were voting on and doing for the United States government. Currently within the United States Government, Congress is the most diverse in terms of race and gender. Congress has become more diverse, but there are still systemic injustices and inequality throughout the government and the United States that can possibly be changed due to more diverse voices being heard.

Picture of the most diverse congress in history (117th Congress, current congress members)

 

Article and Link to a video:

https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/civil-rights/526575-as-congress-staffs-up-its-past-time-to-fix-capitol-hills

Citations:

History, Art & Archives, U.S. House of Representatives, Office of the Historian, Black Americans in Congress, 1870–2007. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2008. “Black-American Members by Congress, 1870- Present,” https://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/BAIC/Historical-Data/Black-American-Representatives-and-Senators-by-Congress/ Accessed 13 February 13 2021.

Schaeffer, Katherine. “Racial, Ethnic Diversity Increases Yet Again with the 117th Congress.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 28 Jan. 2021, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/01/28/racial-ethnic-diversity-increases-yet-again-with-the-117th-congress/. Accessed 27 March 2021.

Shayanne Gal, Andy Kiersz. “26 Simple Charts to Show Friends and Family Who Aren’t Convinced Racism Is Still a Problem in America.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 8 July 2020, www.businessinsider.com/us-systemic-racism-in-charts-graphs-data-2020-6#black-americans-have-historically-been-underrepresented-in-the-highest-echelons-of-government-as-well-4. Accessed 13 February 2021.