Historian Eric Foner, DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University, examines the issues surrounding the historical film Amistad. When giving his verdict, the judge asks and answers the fundamental question: Where they born in Africa? To just about everyone's surprise, Baldwin successfully manages to shift the basis of the case from murder and mutiny to a matter of ownership and eventually wins the slaves' acquittal. Two navigators, Pedro Montez and Jose Ruiz, are spared on condition they help sail the ship to Africa. : Joseph Cinqu, a leader of the Africans, leads a mutiny and takes over the ship. Georgia. The question was whether the Africans were born on Cuban plantations (and thus were slaves under Spanish law) or had been captured in Africa, which meant that they had been unlawfully acquired. Theodore Joadson Freed slave Theodore Joadson wants Cinque and the others exonerated and recruits property lawyer Roger Baldwin to help his case. Morgan Freeman as a (fictional) abolitionist newspaper editor, Theodore Joadson. The Film Summary Of The Movie, Amistad - WritingBros John Quincy Adams Alternative: Tappan needs an article for the newspaper The Emancipator about the case of the Amistad slaves. Write this newspaper article. (The students might be upset by the violence shown if they see it without preparation.) Menu. Collect information on the real case of the Amistad slaves and compare it with its depiction in the movie. And you, in turn, have devoted your life to refining that noble invention. This is just one of many stories associated with the Amistad event. Amistad never departs from a strict one-to-one ratio between black and white lead characters. He concludes by stating, Who we are is who we were. And that they need strength, courage and wisdom to triumph over fears and prejudices. The fictional Joadson has to be paired with . : If one wishes to understand the causes of the Civil War and the development that led to the Emancipation Proclamation, it is imperative to understand the role of slavery in the nineteenth-century United States. In the so-called triangular trade at least 1.25 million Africans perished during the Atlantic crossing that could take two to three months. Religion played a significant role . Morgan Freeman, as abolitionist Theodore Joadson When they are brought back to court, they pass by Christians once more. That's your story, isn't it? As tension rises, Cinqu abruptly stands and demands, "Give us, us free!". Martyrdom, Mr. Joadson. A majority of the Amistad justices, after all, were still on the Supreme Court in 1857 when, in the Dred Scott decision, it prohibited Congress from barring slavery from the Western territories and proclaimed that blacks in the United States had no rights which a white man is bound to respect., The films historical problems are compounded by the study guide now being distributed to schools, which encourages educators to use Amistad to teach about slavery. The Creole incident took place in 1841, the year the Supreme Court ruled on the Amistad case. : The property lawyer Roger Baldwin offers Tappan and Joadson his help as the Blacks are considered material property (chattel). It is night. (Posted March 1998). Maybe, in this era of budget cuts, some of that $75 million could have more profitably been spent on our public libraries. Sure, they saw Sengbe and the other Mende Africans as heroes for having killed white oppressors for freedom and wanted them free. Amistad. The Amistad Case | National Archives Their silence prompted Frederick Douglass to say, "What a world of inconsistency, as well as of wickedness and how strange and perverse is that moral sentiment which loathes, execrates, and brands as piracy and as deserving of death the carrying away into captivity men, women, and children from the African coast; but which is neither shocked nor disturbed by a similar traffic carried on with the same motives and purposes, and characterized by even more odious peculiarities on the coast of our Model Republic. He had some parts that were almost dead on like the role of Joseph Cinque. Discuss whether, in your opinion, it is legitimate to change historical facts in movies. For example, federal Judge Andrew Judson declares the captives were actually free men and not Cuban slaves. As it is crucial for the case, Baldwin wants to find out where the Africans come from. New York abolished slavery in 1799. . Baldwin and Joadson visit Adams again, and after meeting Cinqu he agrees to represent the Africans before the Supreme Court. However, no mention is made of the fact that an earlier Judson ruling put a damper on attempts to educate black children in Connecticut for years. Amistad: Character Reaction and Analysis - Blogger Stephen Spielberg's " Amistad" (1997) - University of Missouri-Kansas | Compelling and informative, while kept in perspective, Amistad can be a useful look at history. By 1804, the anti-slavery movement, which was started by the Quakers in 1775, had succeeded in the North. [] Schindler's List works better as narrative because it is about a risky deception, while Amistad is about the search for a truth that, if found, will be small consolation to the millions of existing slaves. . Add information about the following parties and explain their roles. The judge is impressed and signals his intention to dismiss the US and Spanish governments' case and release the captives. Right? In the greenhouse he tells him about the origin of his flowers, including an African violet. Collect information on the vessel La Amistad and present it to the class. The schooner La Amistad is transporting black slaves off the coast of the Spanish colony of Cuba in 1839. The ship is Amistad. Theodore Joadson The guide erases the distinction between fact and fiction, urging students, for example, to study black abolitionism through the films invented character, Theodore Joadson, rather than real historical figures. Official Sites Language 4. and his abolitionist colleagues Lewis Tappa and Theodore Joadson prevailed three times in the case of the Amistad. Theodore Joadson By drawing maps, Baldwin finds proof for his assumption that they were captured in Africa. In the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 Abraham Lincoln declared that all slaves in areas currently in rebellion would be permanently free. John Quincy Adams The justices rule in favor of the Africans in an eight-to-one decision. Baldwin and Joadson search the Amistad for evidence. [holding up a nursery plant with tender branches] V. The Representation of Brutality . Amistad Movie Reflection - 1242 Words | Cram : After Hounsou read the speech in English, Goun and further learned it in Mende, Spielberg was impressed enough that he cast him in the role of Cinqu. Taking into consideration the encounter of the Africans and the Americans in the movie as well as the efforts made to understand one another, what may be learned from this film about cross-cultural confusion and understanding? Release Dates At a . I know you and your Presidency as well as any man - and your father's. You were a child at his side when he helped invent America. Amistad movie review & film summary (1997) | Roger Ebert They have these - scars. theodore joadson role in amistadgary numan discography. Theodore Joadson was born into a family of black slaves, but he was later freed, and went on to become an abolitionist and . But in the film he is caricatured and his role is minimized. Movie Analysis - Amistad essays Former President John Quincy Adams agrees to defend the Africans. Harvey Karten's review from rec.arts.movies.reviews; Michael Dare's review from rec.arts.movies.reveiews; Cast. Theodore Joadson But he (Spielberg) wanted to make a point and I understood that. Under cross-examination, Fitzgerald admits there is no direct evidence of Lomboko's existence. "[15] Metacritic calculated an average score of 63 out of 100 based on 23 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". He explains in metaphorical language why this case is so exceptional. Summarize what happens in this scene (in writing or orally). The film begins in the depths of the schooner La Amistad, a slave-ship carrying captured West Africans into slavery.The film's protagonist, Sengbe Pieh (Djimon Hounsou), most known by his Mende name, "Cinqu" (meaning "fifth"), painstakingly picks a nail out of the ship's structure and uses it to pick the lock on his shackles. On a historical level, Hopkins' crusty, curmudgeonly John Quincy Adams . New Jersey was the last of the northern states to abolish slavery in 1804. Summarize the standpoints of Joadson and Adams during their conversation. Washington and 325 other slaves were put on the Creole to be sent to New Orleans, but somewhere between Hampton, Va., and New Orleans, he and 19 black men overpowered the white slavers and had the ship sailed to the Bahamas, a British colony. The Representation of Blacks in Amistad: Customs and Culture 1. "[20], Morgan Freeman is very proud of the movie, having said, "I loved the film. If you wish to inspire such hatred in a man, Mr. Joadson, speak to him in that fashion and it may come true. Theodore Joadson Amistad - Rotten Tomatoes : Slavery was forbidden in the Thirteenth Amendment of 1865. AMISTAD - Teach with Movies Amistad, shortcomings and all, is solid, engrossing. Hounsou was not able to learn all his lines in Mende and those he could not were broken down and spoken phonetically, except for the most important scenes which he knew he needed to understand every word being spoken. If not, why not? Amistad (film) - Wikipedia But having listened to Cinques testimony and that of the witness Captain Fitzgerald, Judge Coughlin rather unexpectedly decides that the Africans cannot be slaves and that the Spanish sailors are guilty of illegal slave trade and murder. The decision is upheld by the Circuit Court of Appeals. Referring to Adams being a former president, Cinque says, A chief cannot become anything less than a chief, not even in death. Discuss this statement, also referring to great statesmen. Amistad by Film Reviewed Michael Dequina - aalbc.com: African American The actor who secured the role would also need to learn the Mende accent spoken by Cinqu. If so, why? John Quincy Adams As a result, the movie doesn't have the emotional charge of Spielberg's earlier film or of The Color Purple, which moved me to tears. Plot. Having established these two salient points, however, no critic has asked why Spielberg went to the bother of having Theodore Joadson at all. The British Captain Fitzgerald, however, confirms Cinques story. Students will also interpret the Supreme Court's role in the judicial branch by connecting the document back to the . On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 78% based on reviews from 67 critics, with an average score of 6.9/10. Cinque's attorney, wants to prove they weren't born slaves, so could not legally ever become slaves. Joadson even sits in courtrooms with the white characters and roams the halls of the Supreme Court. All American history textbooks today contain extensive treatments of slavery, almost always emphasizing the systems brutality and the heroism of those who survived the very things Amistad's promoters claim have been suppressed. Tappan In 1839, the slave ship Amistad set sail from Cuba to America. For the past forty years, no subject has received more scholarly attention. Amistad Monologues - True Monologue : Similar actors include Samuel L. Jackson, Laurence Fishburne, and Giancarlo Esposito. Filmed in New England and Puerto Rico, the 152-minute drama opens with a pre . People were captured in wars and forced into slavery. theodore joadson role in amistad This problem is compounded by having the Africans speak Mende, a West African language, with English subtitles. In the U.S., slavery peaked in the nineteenth century, when the slaves mainly worked in the fields to meet the increased demand for sugar, cotton and tobacco. However, as an introduction the function of flashbacks in literature and film can be discussed. Overall, however, as a movie Amistad is simply a bore. This chapter should be watched without tasks. [23], The United States Department of State and the Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematogrficos (ICAIC) collaborated in 1998 to screen Amistad as part of an effort to increase "cultural diplomacy" built around shared national histories of racial struggles in the United States and Cuba.[24]. I am embarrassed to admit that I was under the misconception that our Executive and Judicial Branches were separate. [exhales and looks confused]. There remains one task undone. Amistad is a true story about 53 African slaves mutinying aboard a Spanish slave ship off the coast of Cuba in 1839. The President of the United States appoints the justices as vacancies occur, but the appointments must be confirmed by the Senate. Amistad is a 1997 American historical drama film based on the true story of the mutiny that occurred aboard La Amistad (Spanish for "friendship") in 1839. Denzel Washington was suggested to play Theodore Joadson in Amistad by kipwalker. This character, I believe, exemplifies the distance the African Americans then and to this day have with their African heritage and culture. The Africans are treated cruelly on board the Tecora. Baldwin and Joadson recruit freedman James Covey as a translator, enabling Cinqu to testify directly before the court. No more so than these. Explain their effect. There were fewer slaves in the North, where they mostly worked as servants. Amistad Movie Analysis Summary - Grades Hero Abraham Lincolns Attitudes on Slavery and Race, Evangelical Religion and Evangelical Democracy: Lincolns Legacy, Lincolns Image in the American Schoolbook, Fiction as Reconstruction of History: Narratives of the Civil War in American Literature, The Social and Cultural Construction of Abraham Lincoln in U.S. Movies and on U.S. TV, Adapting History and Literature into Movies, Appendix: The Mechanics of Books versus the Mechanics of Movies, Teaching American History and the Movie Amistad, Lincoln Pathfinder: Internet Resources on Studying and Teaching Abraham Lincoln, Contact, ImprintPrivacy Policy / Datenschutz, http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=14856, http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/amistad/, Screen Indians in the EFL-Classroom: Transnational Perspectives, From Sheikh to Terrorist? | Theodore Joadson. (Different groups of students can be assigned a rhetorical device to concentrate on.). He enters into a discussion with Tappan and Joadson on the issue of whether they were illegally acquired and whether they are to be considered material goods or human beings. Most galling, however, is the assumption that a subject does not exist until it is discovered by Hollywood. Write an entry that covers the last few days. . To avoid a diplomatic incident, President Martin Van Buren directs his Secretary of State John Forsyth to support the Spanish claim. Point out John Quincy Adamss line of argument. No you're an ex-slave whose devoted his life to the abolition of slavery, and overcoming the obstacles and hardships along the way, I should imagine. He refers to letters exchanged between the Secretary of State, John Forsyth, and the Queen of Spain, Isabella II, who calls the American courts incompetent. What was the "Underground Railroad" and what was its role in the anti-slavery movement? Yeah? Apart from the intrepid Cinque, the Africans' leader, we never learn how the captives responded to their ordeal. Give a short account of how the translator is found and compare it with the approaches you had thought of. So, they're plantation slaves then. There are at least two scenes that contain graphic violence. They are then held prisoner in Connecticut, and their release becomes the subject of heated debate. _____ PART B (DURING VIEWING) /60 points Task One /5 points What are a few outstanding elements of character, tone, and gesture which the actor Morgan Freeman brings into the role of Theodore Joadson? They approach the brilliant lawyer, former US president and serving U.S. representative John Quincy Adams, but he is reluctant to get involved. Scars? This was far more typical of the governments stance toward slavery than the Amistad affair. But as Cinque the leader of the Africans, Mr. Hounsou is . Most black people in America had already been declared to be the legal property and merchandise of white men. Chapter 20 and 21: Adamss Speech (10:00). [9], Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun also appears in the film as Justice Joseph Story. If needed, make use of the following phrases: the bottom of a ship, low ceiling, lock (on a chain), metal spike, to show no pity/mercy, sword. In the meantime, Baldwin has found a translator. Therefore, it has been divided into chapters (as they appear on the display of the DVD player) in the proposed lesson plan. ''Amistad'' also stars Matthew McConaughey as Baldwin, Anthony Hopkins as Adams and Morgan Freeman as an abolitionist, Theodore Joadson. [7] Hounsou auditioned with the hope of landing just a small role[6] and said he was not aware of the story before securing the role. It is a film based on the true story. Not necessarily. Hopkins reportedly wept once the scene was completed. They instead hire the young and eccentric attorney Roger Sherman Baldwin. The groups might concentrate on Cinque/Captain Fitzgerald/ Holabird/Cinques friend.). In court, whoever tells the best story wins. , but it is his spirit, more than his physique, that fulfills the role. . . Susan Wloszczyna of USA Today summed up the feelings of many reviewers when she wrote, "as Spielberg vehicles go, Amistad part mystery, action thriller, courtroom drama, even culture-clash comedy lands between the disturbing lyricism of Schindler's List and the storybook artificiality of The Color Purple. This chapter is a flashback. Morgan Freeman as Theodore Joadson (Morgan Freeman) "I am embarrassed to admit that I was under . It wasn't as if . Freed slave Theodore Joadson (Morgan Freeman) wants Cinque and the others exonerated and recruits property lawyer Roger Baldwin (Matthew McConaughey) to help his case.
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