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Slavery (1965-10-26)
About this film
You ask me how it was with us in slavery time. Well, I'll tell you. Now everything I tell you is the truth, but they's plenty I can't tell you... His dramatic and choral work starring Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, and the choral group "The Voices Inc." is a portrait of life under slavery. Based on the actual testimony of former slaves, the tragic and sometimes humorous experiences of life in the old South is told - joining the white folk's church, outwitting the master, going to the Fourth of July barbecue, working in the fields, and finally, being liberated by the victorious Yankee troops. ("Everybody was singing. We was all walking on golden clouds)." Anecdote and song are backed by the narrator's sobering historical account ("In 1860 a New Orleans prime field hand sold for $1,800"... "In the 18th century 7 million Negroes were abducted from Africa)." The chorus sings the old Negro spirituals that sprang from this era, "Good News," "The Chariot's Coming," "Deep River," "Go Down Moses," "Battle Hymn of the Republic," and others. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
Directors & creators
National Educational Television and Radio Center
Subjects
public broadcasting, AAPB, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, The Voices Inc., Eli Whitney, Jamestown, Virginia, slavery in the United States, slave narratives, cotton gin, Negro spirituals, slave trade, plantation life, history of the Negro people, African American history
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