1. 2C THE MIAMI TIMES, MARCH 16-22, 2016 THE NATION'S #1 BLACK NEWSPAPER
By Brooke Henderson
Special to The Miami Times
A comprehensive viewing and
discussion of the “The Aboliti-
onists” took place as a power-
ful reminder of where we come
from at Nova Southeastern
University’s Alvin Sherman Li-
brary. Though the film may fall
short in some aspects, it spar-
ked an important conversation.
The documentary, written
and directed by Rob Rapley,
featured a live re-enactment
that was both gripping and
comprehensive. Attendees on
Feb. 27 enjoyed the presence
of familiar faces on screen
and concise historians used
to highlight the moral strugg-
le behind the movement. Alt-
hough the film makes it a point
to tell that before William Lloyd
Garrison — the only real figh-
ters for the end of slavery were
African Americans -- it omits a
lot of the earlier efforts. There
is no mention of the widespread
efforts of the Northern white
abolitionists, such as the Qua-
kers, who did much to remove
slavery from their cities soon
after the American Revoluti-
on. There is no mention of the
American Colonization Society
(ACS), which dates all the way
back to 1817 and openly sup-
ported some of Garrison’s early
anti-slavery speeches.
By the end of the documen-
tary it was clear that the Ab-
olitionist movement was more
about the loneliness of the
activists, but the true motiva-
tions behind the emancipation
laws created was not detailed.
Groups such as the ACS belie-
ved that an African presence
in the U.S. was incompatible
with democracy and thus cal-
led for their removal. This do-
cumentary did make an effort
to clarify that while some were
against the idea of owning ano-
ther human being, they were
not of the opinion that African
Americans were of equal status
as whites. Viewers recognized
this and spent time widely dis-
cussing the motivations of en-
ding slavery during the discus-
sion portion of the event.
After the three-hour film, at-
tendees enjoyed light refresh-
ments and asked thoughtful
questions. Their comments
ranged from, “What preven-
ted the Abolitionist movement
from occurring in an earlier
time period?” to “What do you
consider to be our modern Ab-
olitionist movement?” While
the viewing itself did not en-
compass the years following
the movement, the discussion
did not hold back. After the
screening, a discussion mode-
rated by Dr. David Kilroy from
NSU’s College of Arts, Humani-
ties and Social Sciences, began
quickly. Although a native of
Dublin, Ireland, his work and
novels reflect a comprehensive
knowledge of issues of dome-
stic American cultural and po-
litical identity.
Overall, the documentary
does its job. There’s just one
small problem: it ignored the
contributions of African-Ame-
ricans. The Abolitionist mo-
vement is one of the most im-
portant social movements of
the 19th century, but the only
two Black voices featured in
the documentary are Frederick
Douglass and Shields Green.
Two. Out of the millions of Af-
rican Americans present in
the U.S. at this time, only two
of their activists were chosen
to tell their own story. Green
is depicted with John Brown
on the way to Harper’s Ferry.
He appears early in the docu-
mentary, with one single line.
Douglass is used as a suppor-
ting role to describe the Aboli-
tionist movement. His voice be-
comes one of a pacifist, when
in reality he was a fighter. They
were all fighters. Nonviolent
tactics were used, but the Ab-
olitionist movement was not a
period in which Blacks could
live and be solely nonviolent.
This is only the beginning of
the film’s inconsistencies.
One of the historians fea-
tured is David Blight. His no-
vel “Frederick Douglass’s Ci-
vil War” rightly acknowledges
the work of Black abolitionists
as the driving force behind
the movement, and still the
film itself omits the main pic-
ture. The writings of Hosea
Easton—a major player in the
community of antebellum free
African Americans based in
Philadelphia—was edited by
a historian consulted by the
film, James Brewer Stewart.
In Julie Roy Jeffrey’s “The Gre-
at Silent Army of Abolition”
more than 300 pages are fil-
led with the voices of abolitio-
nist women, not only white but
Black. Another whose know-
ledge was used to create the
narrative of the film was John
Stauffer, the coeditor of a coll-
ection of essays purposefully
meant to put back the perspec-
tives of Blacks in the abolitio-
nist history records. The coll-
ection, “Prophets of Protest,”
contains a piece by Manisha
Sinha that clearly roots Black
abolitionism all the way to the
antebellum era.
And still, something doesn’t
add up. The film rightfully con-
sulted some of the top histo-
rians of our day, only to leave
out their primary message. Ar-
guably the director Rob Rapley
decided that it was worth cut-
ting these stories of lifetimes of
labor and heartache in order to
create an easier to palate hi-
story. It has the effect of during
the Abolition movement into a
story of something whites did
for Blacks because of their mo-
ral standing. History of slavery
in this country is not pretty,
but this film attempts to make
it easier to hear at the expense
of the truth.
This event was the result of
a partnership with Created
Equal: America’s Civil Rights
Struggle. The Created Equal
film program itself is an initia-
tive of the National Endowment
for the Humanities meant to
inspire reflection and intro-
spection around the ideals of
equality and freedom.
That is commendable, but the
film wasn’t made by someone
who understands what it’s like
to be Black. As a result, the at-
tendees don’t get to hear about
the daring raids spearheaded
by Black abolitionists in the
North to save fugitive slaves.
They don’t get to hear that we
were brave enough and strong
enough to try and liberate our-
selves by force. And that is the
ultimate shame. If anything,
this documentary proves above
all that we need to tell our own
stories. Venues like this library
will give us the chance.
‘The Abolitionists’ film viewing at Nova University
Contributions of Blacks mostly left out
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continued from 1C
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