North and South

Most movie, unless stated, are not actually true events. Yet some movies may have some facts written into the story line. This may make the movie more interesting to some. Though, this movie is based of true events a long time ago, deciding what is factual and what is not may be difficult to decipher without some in-depth research. Never-the-less, a question still remains, can movies actually portray an historical event or happening without distorting the truth?

There is one particular scene in which I do see that the information is historically accurate. The scene starts off with all the black men standing around after receiving their pay looking outraged. . A black man shouted above the crowd and the men were silenced. The man didn’t believe it was fair for him to only get paid $10 per month, while the whites received $13. After the all the black men erupted with anger, Colonel Shaw quieted them. He said that since the black man did not get the same pay as the white man, neither of them would accept the pay. What was not mentioned in the movie was the Militia Act was being passed right around that time. At the time the Militia Act was passed, the government had planned to enroll blacks mainly as laborers, not combat soldiers. When Secretary of War Stanton formed the Bureau of Colored Troops in May 1863, he asked for a ruling on colored soldiers’ pay. He was informed that by law their pay was just $10 per month. As of June 1863 all black soldiers were paid at this rate, despite the fact that many were giving their lives on the battle field for the Union. This angered both the blacks and whites. From some information gathered, the blacks and whites did not deny the pay right then and there. They decided not to accept it after Shaw had written to the Governor. As far as accuracy goes, this scene wasn’t too far off. There was no specific date given, but the months and year are, in fact, correct. From my knowledge and research, the only two characters that were not fictional in this scene were Thomas and Shaw.

In the scene where Trip gets whipped for running away the black man is portrayed accurately. The black man just has to sit there and take the beating more or less. Trip looked hurt, angry, and humiliated, but there was nothing he could do. He would not have been listened to if he tried to give an explanation for why he ran away. It was almost if the blacks had gotten used to this type of behavior. They stood around watching like it was nothing new. They had all seen or been through this before. They had to endure much more than a few beatings, so it was pretty much next to nothing as a punishment. A white person would not get this type of punishment, but that’s just how it was back then. When you are a slave you are to do what your master says and if you don’t then you will have to suffer the consequences.

There are mixed emotions between the blacks and whites throughout the movie. Though most of the time blacks were treated badly, there were the rare times when they got respect. Shaw was actually giving a black the time of day. Shaw was trying to figure out why Trip ran away in the first place. He explained the other men had mentioned the sores on their feet because they lacked the proper shoes to wear. Shaw went to check out the situation with the other men and found exactly what Trip had mentioned. Shaw had seen enough and went straight to Governor Andrew where he made sure he got his way so he could get his men better shoes. Most people didn’t believe that blacks should have the same rights/luxuries as they did like