Southern History On Screen

Hollywood films have been influential in the portrayal and representation of race relations in the South and how African Americans are cinematically depicted in history, from The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Gone with the Wind (1939) to The Help (2011) and 12 Years a Slave (2013). With an ability to reach mass audiences, films represent the power to influence and shape the public's understanding of our country's past, creating lasting images -- both real and imagined -- in American culture. In Southern History on Screen: Race and Rights, 1976--2016, editor Bryan Jack brings together essays from an international roster of scholars to provide new critical perspectives on Hollywood's relationships between historical films, Southern history, identity, and the portrayal of Jim Crow--era segregation. This collection analyzes films through the lens of religion, politics, race, sex, and class, building a comprehensive look at the South as seen on screen. By illuminating depictions of the southern belle in Gone with the Wind, the religious rhetoric of southern white Christians and the progressive identity of the "white heroes" in A Time to Kill (1996) and Mississippi Burning (1988), as well as many other archetypes found across films, this book explores the intersection between film, historical memory, and southern identity.

Second only to the Super Bowl in audience size and revenue, the Oscars are more than a mere ceremony; they are a phenomenon. Hosted by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for over ninety years, the Oscars have long been considered the pinnacle of fantasy, beauty, romance and high class. They are eagerly anticipated and are heavily discussed. It is only recently that movements such as #OscarsSoWhite have raised awareness around the more complicated legacy of the Oscars and African American participation in film. This timely book draws on American, African American, and film history to reflect on how the Oscars have recognized blacks from the award’s inception to the present. Starting in the 1920s, the chapters provides a thorough analysis and overview of any black actors nominated for their Hollywood roles during each decade. By cross-referencing historical trends with prior winners, readers will be able to see consistent patterns when it comes to black characters in film and ultimately judge whether mainstream race relations has truly changed substantively or only superficially over time. Black Oscars presents never seen before statistical analysis of nominees and winners as evidence for racial trends. All black nominees’ movie characters are analyzed to contextualize the socio-political meaning of such roles and of the black characters as political images onscreen. Black Oscar winners (more of which occur in the latter decades) are highlighted and cross-referenced with other winners. This analysis is grouped by decade, allowing for appreciation of trends and patterns. For over ninety years, Oscar winners have been considered the standard bearers of all things imaginable within American culture. Given the Oscars’ presence and popularity, it begs the question of what do these awards reflect and reinforce about larger society, particularly when it comes to the public participation of African Americans. In the meticulously-researched Black Oscars: From Mammy to Minny, What the Academy Awards Tell Us about African Americans, we see how the Oscars are an indispensable guide to understanding race in mainstream Hollywood.

Useful Captives: The Role of POWs in American Military Conflicts is a wide-ranging investigation of the integral role prisoners of war (POWs) have played in the economic, cultural, political, and military aspects of American warfare. In Useful Captives volume editors Daniel Krebs and Lorien Foote and their contributors explore the wide range of roles that captives play in times of conflict: hostages used to negotiate vital points of contention between combatants, consumers, laborers, propaganda tools, objects of indoctrination, proof of military success, symbols, political instruments, exemplars of manhood ideals, loyal and disloyal soldiers, and agents of change in society. The book’s eleven chapters cover conflicts involving Americans, ranging from colonial warfare on the Creek-Georgia border in the late eighteenth century, the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Great War, World War II, to twenty-first century U.S. drone warfare. This long historical horizon enables the reader to go beyond the prison camp experience of POWs to better understand the many ways they influence the nature and course of military conflict. Useful Captives shows the vital role that prisoners of war play in American warfare and reveals the cultural contexts of warfare, the shaping and altering of military policies, the process of state-building, the impacts upon the economy and environment of the conflict zone, their special place in propaganda and political symbolism, and the importance of public history in shaping national memory.

Many historical myths are actually false yet psychologically true. This title looks myth and reality as complementary elements in the historical record.