Abstract
Banished vividly recovers the too-quickly forgotten history of racial cleansing in America when thousands of African Americans were driven from their homes and communities by violent, racist mobs. The film places these events in the context of present day race relations by following three concrete cases where black and white citizens warily explore if there is common ground for reconciliation over these expulsions. Banished raises this larger question: will the United States ever make meaningful reparations for the human rights abuses suffered, then and now, against its African American citizens? Can reconciliation between the races be possible without them?
Between 1860 and 1920 hundreds of U.S. counties expelled their black residents. The pattern was depressingly similar in almost all cases. The counties tended to have small, defenseless black populations. A black man was rumored to have assaulted a white woman, was lynched and then white rioters attacked black neighborhoods with guns and firebombs. Few black property owners had time to sell their properties nor dared return to repossess them. Whites could then illegally assume ownership of them. African Americans not only lost their hard-won homes, farms and businesses, but saw their communities and families dispersed and their very right to exist violated. The film reveals that even one hundred years later, these racially cleansed communities tend to remain all-white bastions of separatism, sometimes harboring active klaverns of the Ku Klux Klan.
Between 1860 and 1920 hundreds of U.S. counties expelled their black residents. The pattern was depressingly similar in almost all cases. The counties tended to have small, defenseless black populations. A black man was rumored to have assaulted a white woman, was lynched and then white rioters attacked black neighborhoods with guns and firebombs. Few black property owners had time to sell their properties nor dared return to repossess them. Whites could then illegally assume ownership of them. African Americans not only lost their hard-won homes, farms and businesses, but saw their communities and families dispersed and their very right to exist violated. The film reveals that even one hundred years later, these racially cleansed communities tend to remain all-white bastions of separatism, sometimes harboring active klaverns of the Ku Klux Klan.
Collection
Subject
African Americans -- Reparations, African Americans -- Segregation, African Americans -- Social conditions, African Americans -- History, Racism -- Southern States -- History, Southern States -- Race relations -- History, Harrison (Ark.) -- Race relations, Forsyth County (Ga.) -- Race relations, United States -- Race relations
Contributors
Williams, Marco (director), Williams, Marco (writer), Williams, Marco (producer), Williams, Marco (narrator), Barnier, Kathryn (editor), Christie, Sandra (editor), McCarthy, Stephen (videographer), Murray, David (composer), Jaspin, Elliot (reporter), Harris, Maia (producer), Harris, Maia (writer), Center for Investigative Reporting (producer), Two Tone Productions (producer), Corporation for Public Broadcasting (contributor)
Duration
01:23:42 (HH:MM:SS)
Language:
English
Target or Intended Audience
adult/continuing education, higher education, college
Copyright Holder
| Name | California Newsreel |
| Role | distributor |
| Telephone | 415-284-7800 |
| Address | 500 Third Street, Suite #505, San Francisco, CA 94107-1875 |
| [email protected] |
Copyright Date
2007-01-01
Rights Declaration:
This video is protected by copyright. You are free to view it but not download or remix it. Please contact the licensing institution for further information about how you may use this video.
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