Tag: slavery

Underground saison 1

15 March 202208 juin 2016 by Matt Biscay · Lecture: 1 minute

Underground est une série télévisée américaine créée par Misha Green et Joe Pokaski, et diffusée sur la chaîne WGN America.

La série se déroule au XIXème siècle, pendant ce que les historiens appellent l’Antebellum Era ou encore Plantation Era.

Elle suit à la fois la quête de liberté d’un groupe d’esclaves travaillant dans une plantation de coton et la mise en place du chemin de fer clandestin (“Underground Railroad”).

Un groupe d’esclaves planifie une échappée téméraire, délaissant leur plantation de Géorgie pour aller se réfugier à plus de 600 miles de là.

En chemin, ils sont aidés par un couple d’abolitionnistes secrets qui sont en charge d’une station de l’Underground Railroad. Le groupe tente par tous les moyens de fausser compagnie aux gens chargés de les ramener à la plantation – morts ou vifs.

Hell on Wheels saison 5

28 April 202219 juillet 2015 by Matt Biscay · Lecture: 1 minute

Voici la cinquième et dernière saison de Hell on Wheels sur AMC.

Le chemin de fer n’est toujours pas achevé et Cullen Bohannon se trouve toujours avec la Central Pacific Railroad.

Il est toujours déterminé à finir sa tâche, rallier la Californie à l’Utah, et espère toujours retrouver sa famille. Enfin, s’il arrive à ne pas se faire tuer ou à ne pas croiser les mauvaises personnes sur son chemin !

Cette dernière saison de quatorze épisodes sera diffusée en deux parties : sept épisodes durant l’été 2015, puis sept autres épisodes en 2016.

Hell on Wheels saison 4

30 March 202208 septembre 2014 by Matt Biscay · Lecture: 1 minute

Voici la quatrième saison de la série Hell on Wheels sur AMC.

Cette saison se centre encore et toujours sur l’expansion vers l’Ouest de l’Union Pacific Railroad.

Des conflits entre le gouvernement et des entreprises, des ranchers, des colons et la ligne de chemin de fer éclatent.

Tous ces intérêts différents entrent en compétition les uns avec les autres pour le contrôle de la ville de Cheyenne, dans le Wyoming, l’un des noeuds les plus importants de la ligne de chemin de fer en 1867.

Hell on Wheels saison 3

28 April 202218 août 2013 by Matt Biscay · Lecture: 1 minute

Hell on Wheels est de retour pour une troisième saison sur AMC.

Cullen Bohannon revient au centre du show et abandonne son désir de vengeance pour sa famille pour continuer l’expansion vers l’ouest de l’Union Pacific Railroad, tout en combattant Thomas “Doc” Durant pour le contrôle.

La tagline de cette saison est : “Outlaw In Charge”.

Brother Dege – Too Old to Die Young

15 March 201504 juin 2013 by Matt Biscay · Lecture: 1 minute

J’ai regardé Django Unchained avec mes Premières la semaine dernière et dans la bande originale du film, j’aime beaucoup le morceau Too Old to Die Young de Brother Dege, un artiste du deep south des Etats-Unis :

C’est catchy !

J’ai bien aimé le film aussi, pas aussi violent qu’annoncé, surtout si on le considère comme un western (qui par définition est violent).

Le traitement de la question raciale et du racisme aux USA aide bien à la prise de parole. Je m’arrête là, sinon je vais faire la critique du film ;-)

Hell on Wheels saison 2

28 April 202213 août 2012 by Matt Biscay · Lecture: 1 minute

Voici la seconde saison d’Hell on Wheels, diffusée sur AMC.

Cullen Bohannon continue sa quête à la recherche de ceux qui sont responsables de la mort de sa femme et de son fils, tout comme continue l’expansion vers l’ouest de l’Union Pacific Railroad, dirigée par Thomas “Doc” Durant.

Pendant ce temps, Durant envoie Elam s’occuper d’une bande qui vole la paie des employés.

La tagline de cette saison est : “still fighting … still searching … still raising hell”. Dix épisodes sont prévus pour cette saison.

Hell on Wheels saison 1

10 February 202411 novembre 2011 by Matt Biscay · Lecture: 1 minute

Nous avions vu le trailer il y a quelques mois, voici le début d’Hell on Wheels sur AMC.

Dans cette série western, Cullen Bohannan (Anson Mount), ancien propriétaire d’esclaves et soldat confédéré, est déterminé à venger le viol et meurtre de sa femme en traquant et tuant les soldats de l’Union responsables de cette infamie.

Il voyage vers l’ouest et demande à travailler à la construction du premier chemin de fer transcontinental américain.

The Shrewsbury Chronicles : day 4

18 February 202427 mai 2008 by Matt Biscay · Lecture: 3 minutes

C’est notre quatrième jour et après un solide petit déjeûner – ben oui, on commence à anticiper le menu packed lunch à force ! – nous attrapons nos élèves sur le parking et nous filons une nouvelle fois pour… Liverpool ! Hé oui, encore !

Mais cette fois-ci, le programme est bien différent : nous nous dirigeons vers l’International Slavery Museum, qui a ouvert ses portes au public en septembre 2007.

Tout beau, tout neuf donc. Il se situe au troisième étage du Maritime Museum, sur les docks.

Life in the Plantations

20 December 202306 juillet 2007 by Matt Biscay · Lecture: 3 minutes

This is post 3 of 11 in the series “From the Puritan settlements to the American Civil War (1787-1877)”

From the Puritan settlements to the American Civil War (1787-1877)

Introduction

Most slaves were forced to work long hours under close supervision. Most slaves could rely on their masters for basic welfare: clothes, food, and shelter.

On many plantations, slaves grew their gardens and some even enjoyed a few holidays or received some rewards.

Subjugation and resistance

Concerning the problem of subjugation, the slaveholders tightly circumscribed the world of their slaves: they had to carry passes with them when they were off the plantation and were forbidden to go out at night.

There were slave patrols, vigilant in finding offenders. Punishment was severe and quick.

As a means to prevent communication, the Slave Code forbade teaching slaves how to read and write; but about 10% of the slaves risked punishment to achieve literacy: the ability to read and write was understood to be the key to freedom.

Concerning resistance, the degree to which slaves resisted their subjugation reinforced the police state (1831: Nat Turner’s rebellion). Either they resisted or ran away.

A successful escape was very difficult. Despite the number of punishments, there were always runaways willing to take the chance of escaping and reaching the North.

Social context of America in the early 19th century photo

The social context of America in the early 19th century

20 December 202306 juillet 2007 by Matt Biscay · Lecture: 3 minutes

This is post 6 of 11 in the series “From the Puritan settlements to the American Civil War (1787-1877)”

From the Puritan settlements to the American Civil War (1787-1877)

Introduction to Puritanism and Expansionism
Antebellum South
Life in the Plantations
USA: North and South
O’Sullivan’s Manifest Destiny
The social context of America in the early 19th century
The American Civil War: 1861-1865
America: The New Nation
After the American Civil War: The Reconstruction
America: West to the Pacific
Years of Growth

Introduction

In the late 18th century, the American Constitution accepted the existence of slavery. It was considered an institution: there have always been slaves since the 18th century.

They chose black slaves instead of Indians because of the trial of Valladolid, where people wondered if the Native was a man or simply an animal. It turned out to be a theological problem: if the Native did not have a soul then he was an animal.

In the end, they declared that Natives had a soul and this “discovery” caused an economic shock: the Natives could not be employed anymore in plantations and ships started bringing in African slaves.

Slavery

Towards the end of the 18th century, people thought slavery would naturally die out. They were very naive.

Unfortunately, Whitney invented the Cotton Gin and put an end to those naive considerations.

Rather than declining, the number of slaves increased in the South: in 1820, there were 1,500,000 slaves in America. There were 4,000,000 in 1860.

Slavery was an economic problem for 75% of the cotton crops were exported, representing 60% of America”s foreign earnings. Slavery was hence very profitable to the South and – by way of consequence – to the whole continent.

Antebellum South

20 December 202306 juillet 2007 by Matt Biscay · Lecture: 6 minutes

This is post 2 of 11 in the series “From the Puritan settlements to the American Civil War (1787-1877)”

From the Puritan settlements to the American Civil War (1787-1877)

Introduction

The South had developed a unique society and a sense of Southern nationalism. The conflict with the North and the secession were an attempt to create an independent nation.

Also a contrast, the South had developed a class system whereas the North was characterized by a social structure.

Antebellum South

A Southern ideology – based on aristocracy – justified slavery. Many (crazy) explanations were put forward like: “the African race is biologically inferior” or “physically and mentally under-developed”.

Through slavery, they could adjust to a better kind of life, and be taught new morals and the “true religion”. All that was part of the Southern ideology: “Some people must work and sweat to provide those in charge with leadership”.

Southern society is hedonistic when the North advocates the Puritan ethic (moral – virtue – hard work, according to the Bible).

After 1830, abolitionist societies began violent campaigns against slavery. Garrison was an extremist abolitionist who printed/invented sensational stories about how cruelly black slaves were treated in the South.

Slaveholders were depicted as monsters and, in the North, slavery was seen as a sin against God (move on to the religious ground). Garrison wanted the “purification of the Nation from the guilt of slavery”.

USA: North and South

20 December 202306 juillet 2007 by Matt Biscay · Lecture: 6 minutes

This is post 4 of 11 in the series “From the Puritan settlements to the American Civil War (1787-1877)”

From the Puritan settlements to the American Civil War (1787-1877)

The cotton industry

Cotton was the main crop in the South and the first industry in Georgia. Georgia planters exported their cotton to England but it was not treated.

Thanks to Whitney’s invention, the “Cotton Gin” (Cotton Engine – 1793), which separated the seeds from the fibres, a huge increase in the amount of cotton produced was made possible. In 1820, the output was 8,000 times higher than in 1791.

The increase was achieved by bringing in more slaves to pick the cotton. The prosperity of the planters depended more and more on slavery and Southerners broke away from the US.

Slavery is the root of Southern wealth and industry. It is an institution in the South, as well as their peculiar way of life. The “Cotton Gin” brought about slavery and the Civil War.

In 1810, there were 7,2 million people in the USA and among those people 1,2 million black slaves.

Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence, owned slaves himself and had a black mistress with whom he had children. Georges Washington, as a land owner, owned slaves too.

Southerners defending the right of slavery asked an unanswerable question: how could they cultivate their fields of tobacco, rice, and cotton without slave workers?

The situation was different in the North: the climate was cooler and the farms were smaller so there was no need for slaves. Many Northerners were abolitionists.

By the 19th century, many Northern states had passed their laws to abolish slavery inside their boundaries. In 1808, they persuaded Congress to make it illegal to bring in new slaves from Africa. Gradually, North and South opposed each other.

The Missouri Compromise

In the 1830s, Northern and Southern politicians kept arguing: is slavery permitted in the new territories being settled in the West? The discussion focused on Missouri, which was part of the Louisiana Purchase.