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They interviewed the screenwriter, John Ridley, for the new movie 12 years a Slave , based on the book narrative written by Solomon Northup
Ridley comment:
"For an American who considers himself versed in history, you think you know things about history. The thing I really learned was the evolution of slavery in America, that it wasn’t here fully-formed, the way we always believed it to be. It really went from indentured servitude, to slavery, to slavery predicated on the concept of racial inferiority. To me, that’s where it got painful, in the sense that we as a nation allowed ourselves to really get suckered into these calcified ideas about race and about other people. You look at things that happen now in America, and you think, well, gosh, we’re smart people, why do we have such a difficult time getting over race? It’s because it’s been such a part of our culture, perhaps longer than any other country. Up through the 1890s and even through the civil rights era, that was the law of the land. That was painful to me."
Read more at ONTD: http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/81353699.html#ixzz2eLwgSXdB
There is a Kindle version of this book available for free as a preorder. Delivered October 1st. It's one of several editions of the title on Amazon but I like free.
http://www.amazon.com/Twelve-Years-Slave-Solomon-Northup/dp/1612931081/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1378687847&sr=1-1&keywords=12+years+a+slave
Ridley comment:
"For an American who considers himself versed in history, you think you know things about history. The thing I really learned was the evolution of slavery in America, that it wasn’t here fully-formed, the way we always believed it to be. It really went from indentured servitude, to slavery, to slavery predicated on the concept of racial inferiority. To me, that’s where it got painful, in the sense that we as a nation allowed ourselves to really get suckered into these calcified ideas about race and about other people. You look at things that happen now in America, and you think, well, gosh, we’re smart people, why do we have such a difficult time getting over race? It’s because it’s been such a part of our culture, perhaps longer than any other country. Up through the 1890s and even through the civil rights era, that was the law of the land. That was painful to me."
Read more at ONTD: http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/81353699.html#ixzz2eLwgSXdB
There is a Kindle version of this book available for free as a preorder. Delivered October 1st. It's one of several editions of the title on Amazon but I like free.
http://www.amazon.com/Twelve-Years-Slave-Solomon-Northup/dp/1612931081/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1378687847&sr=1-1&keywords=12+years+a+slave
