Fatoumata Diagouraga

Dr. Bailie

Final Draft Genre Analysis

April 17, 2020

In my essay, I will be writing about “The Birth of a Nation”. The film took place in 1915 in the South. This film has proved many things about what’s happening with race at the times. “Birth of a Nation” was rife with symbolic interactionism. DW Griffith’s use of film and the various film techniques he deploys reinforce what counted as knowledge about race in early 20th century America. Evil sources that are the main cause of conflicts are the Black Americans. Black Americans who are of mixed privilege. At one point in the film, I saw that the Ku Klux Klan were being portrayed as those that were saving families not for a good cause but to take over their basic living rights. Griffith’s use of pathos and ethos were both prevalent Throughout the film. 

Within the last weeks in how race has been socially constructed in America, various perspectives have changed. Now, racism is a normal thing in society. In the 21st century, racism did sort of progress in terms of harmony but, in my opinion, there will always be somewhat hatred towards the opposite race.  Dr. Martin Luther King’s accomplishments are relevant in society today in terms of racial and ethnic segregation. Racism is a topic that can continue for centuries and more. 

 Looking closely at the film “A Birth of a Nation”, many historical events continue to arise. The film being set in the Southern area would make it seem more understandable. The ” Birth of a Nation” literally speaks for itself. The blacks present in this film are categorized as those who don’t have the slightest bit of intelligence and are known as those who are not capable of thinking for themselves. 

According to PVF, the 13th Amendment states “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” 

In Mismeasure of Man, Gould states “ For my first specific rebuttal, however , I do want to pull rank. True , I am not a psychologist and I know little about the technicalities of item selection in mental testing or the social use of results in contemporary America . Hence , I carefully said nothing about these subjects (and would not have written the book if I had judged mastery of such material as essential for my intentions). My book, by the way, has been commonly portrayed, even (to my chagrin) often praised, as a general attack upon mental testing. The Mismeasure of Man is no such thing, and I have an agnostic attitude (born largely of ignorance ) toward mental testing in general.”  Blacks’ drawings were surveyed by Morton and he says that the blacks were invariably depicted as menials. This meant that it was a sure sign that they maintained their appropriate biological roles at all times. 

Also in TMM, “Evolutionary theory swept away the creationist rug that had supported the intense debate between monogenists and polygenists.” The argument of biological determinism “is the basis for believing that measuring the intelligence of an individual allows a measure of worth or value to be attached,”according to Gould. Both The Mismeasure of Man & Plessy V Ferguson were all racist views that Blacks didn’t have the right to have some rights. 

According to the Yale Film Studies, “Focus refers to the degree to which light rays coming from any particular part of an object pass through the lens and reconverge at the same point on a frame of the film negative, creating sharp outlines and distinct textures that match the original object.”

Even though the film presented didn’t have speaking associated with it, what was being portrayed in every scene was pretty easy to figure out. The coloring of Black and White was what made it more interesting. In my opinion, if the film were to be colored instead of black and white, we would be able to emphasize a lot more things going on in the film. 

Works Cited

“D.W. Griffith: Father of Film.”

Gould, Stephen Jay. The Mismeasure of Man. W. Ross MacDonald School Research Services Library, 2016.

Film Studies Research Guide: Home.” Yale University Library Research Guides, guides.library.yale.edu/film.b56DFGSCZ    

Fatoumata Diagouraga

Dr.Bailie

Final Draft The Rhetorical Analysis

April 1, 2020

In my essay, I will be writing about Frederick Hoffman and the “Race Amalgamation.” Frederick Ludwig Hoffman was an industrial worker back in 1884. He based most of his statistical analysis on the data produced by social science research. This “Race Amalgamation” was written in August 1896. Around this time, the Supreme Court came up with the phrase ‘separate but equal’. 

There are consequences for race interbreeding. Different races being together is inferior and it will cause the offspring to be unintelligent. Blacks were inferior. Removing slavery created more issues. Also that he claims whites were superior and this causes fights. Frederick Hoffman’s ‘Race Amalgamation’ emphasizes that he is writing about the segregation issues between whites and blacks down south. Hoffman wants the readers to feel if what he says about having babies with women of other races is horrifying because that is what he led me to believe. Hoffman continues to explain to readers that blacks and whites shall not be together interracially because there are going to be aftermaths. According to the book on page 80 it states, “And it may be said, only with emphasis, that the cross- breed of white men and colored women is, as a rule, a product inferior to both parents, physically and morally.” Also the measures he uses to an extent. The unstated beliefs would be if he(Hoffman)  had witnessed something like what he says and why he’s sooo….. on the downside of interbreeding. You can tell that on page 78, it has been figured out that race has been used in many different types of ways. Also that today there still is no clear definition of race. Discrimination is something that is still in the world today but, it isn’t as famous as how it was before, especially in the southern states of the United States. Blacks or African Americans are often times awkwardly referred to as colored. When reading Frederick Hoffman’s “Race Amalgamation”, the reader has to have a build up of somewhat emotional fear. This is so because during this time period a lot was being said about racial intermixing and it gets to the point where it’s hard to give a good explanation. 

According to Thomas on Plessy V Ferguson, “since one of the arguments for the reasonableness of laws mandating segregation was that they would reduce possibilities of harmful interracial sexual contact, the conclusions that he draws are helpful in understanding the majority opinion of the scientific community on racial issues at the time of the Plessy decision.” This explains that the community had a say when it came to racial interbreeding. The passage tries to get it’s point across the fact that intermixing leads to complications like extinction of civilization. 

To be honest, I agree with Hoffman that racial interbreeding may be a cause to afar civilization. I also disagree with Hoffman on his stance that racial interbreeding can cause other things in society. Frederick Hoffman states that “The pure blooded African is in every way physically the equal to the European….Their mixture with the white race deteriorates very much from their physical development.” Hoffman is really on the downside of interbreeding here in the last sentence.  

This “Race Amalgamation” can be tied to concepts of socialization. Primary socialization is the socialization by parents and family. It is usually the first group where we learn about aspects of our culture. It is also the first and probably most important part of the socialization process and is usually centered on the family. People could argue that primary socialisation is more important because it is usually the first group that we learn about the aspects of our culture. In our opinion, secondary socialization is more important because you can learn a wider range of roles, norms and values through the agents of secondary socialisation. Sometimes there is a dark side to the family which can create bad roles, norms and values compared to school/education where you can learn the importance of these norms and values. In my opinion, people grow to think about their futures and some choose to be with those of opposite races. 

Works Cited

Thomas, Brook. Plessy v. Ferguson: a Brief History with Documents. Bedford Books, 1997.

Begin a draft of assignment two. Work on the introductory paragraph and the thesis statement (claim) that I recommend you end this section with. Write that up in a blog post, and call it HW 4/14.

Next, make sure to email me with a time and day that works for you to chat with me on WebEx. We’ll need to talk about the end of the semester and what you have for a draft thus far when it comes to assignment two: the genre analysis. Make sure to have something written and ready to share with Professor Bailie.

In my essay, I will be writing about “The Birth of a Nation”. The film took place in 1915 in the South. This film has proved many things about what’s happening with race at the times. “Birth of a Nation” was rife with symbolic interactionism. DW Griffith’s use of film and the various film techniques he deploys reinforce what counted as knowledge about race in early 20th century America. Evil sources that are the main cause of conflicts are the Black Americans. Black Americans who are of mixed privilege. At one point in the film, I saw that the Ku Klux Klan were being portrayed as those that were saving families not for a good cause but to take over their basic living rights. Griffith’s use of pathos and ethos were both prevalent Throughout the film. 

Within the last weeks in how race has been socially constructed in America, various perspectives have changed. Now, racism is a normal thing in society. In the 21st century, racism did sort of progress in terms of harmony but, in my opinion, there will always be somewhat hatred towards the opposite race.  Dr. Martin Luther King’s accomplishments are relevant in society today in terms of racial and ethnic segregation. Racism is a topic that can continue for centuries and more.

Looking closely at the film “A Birth of a Nation”, many historical events continue to arise. The film being set in the Southern area would make it seem more understandable. The ” Birth of a Nation” literally speaks for itself. The blacks present in this film are categorized as those who don’t have the slightest bit of intelligence and are known as those who are not capable of thinking for themselves.

I understood the ways of how to upload.

I will be using Google Docs to write!

Webex Meeting

How do you think the “knowledge” (those are scare quotes, meaning I don’t really think it was knowledge but scientific racism) created by biological determinists and white supremacists in the Supreme Court effected the laws crafted and applied to US territories?

I think the “knowledge” created by biological determinists and white supremacists in the Supreme Court effected the laws crafted and applied to US territories…. According to the video, “The judgement of the Supreme Court is that new territories were inhabited by co alien races and can’t understand Anglo Saxon principles.” They were confusing Americans based on where they moved to. For example in the video the speakers redundantly said “She is the daughter of Puerto-Rican Immigrants.” Technically she most definitely isn’t, they don’t understand. Like what Gould defines as Biological Determinism…Shared behavioral norms and the social differences of the groups. This explains that people can be totally different and share the same norms.

I think that the white supremacists and the biological determinists were just trying to fuse together the idea of racism and knowledge and how they impacted so much at the time.

Look over assignment two: the genre analysis. Then, think about all the work we’ve done this unit and the first unit. Then, write up a first-person free write where you make connections about reading scenes from a movie and the concept of discourse communities, the theory of discourse, and the theory of multiliteracies. Specifically, I’d like you to comment on how those concepts made it possible for Griffith to compose the scenes you watched and feel reasonably confident that this intended, white supremacist message would get across to you, the viewer.

Movies can display a lot of things for the intended watchers. All of the above mentioned concepts were things that meant something to Griffith. He based his logic and credibility upon the theory of discourse and the theory of multiiteracies. A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals. In Griffith’s writing he wanted his readers to really think outside the box and relate their emotions to what he was trying to get his point across.

1. What were the names of the newspaper and the organization started in response to both The Birth of a Nation and white supremacy in general?

The guardian newspaper. NAACP.

1. How do you think the organizations referred to in the previous question were ways to legitimate black Americans’ discourse concerning white supremacy and Jim Crow Laws?

I think that the organizations were referred to in the previous question as those who stood out to the crowd. When it comes to Black Americans and White Supremacy the Blacks didn’t always have their way.

1. What were the prime differences between Trotter’s and DuBois’s approaches when it came to combating white supremacy?

Trotter was one whom demonstrated that he could protest.

1. When discussions to ban The Birth of a Nation failed, what methods were used to disrupt screenings of the film?

In Boston, there was a bunch of people who protested and Letters were being mailed out evrywhere to try and stop the screenings of the film.

1. What specific, illegal–but often overlooked and unpunished–act of violence against black Americans was common in the United States at this time, and why was The Birth of a Nation seen as a possible accelerant for this ritualized violence?

All of those such actions that happened to people who were colored. Unjust and other things like Lynching.

What is the deal with Dr. Cameron (the old guy who sorta looks like Sam Elliott) about to bash in the head of his daughter, Margaret right before the Klan shows up? What fears about sex and intermixing are being referenced here, and where have we read about this before? Who else was about to get her head bashed in?

What’s up with that final scene of a city on the hill, people living in paradise, and Jesus? What do you think Griffith is trying to say about a society where white supremacy is not only custom but the law?