Anyone (PW comes to mind) brave enough to see the world as it is,...

"In all of these dramas, the black people's stories are simple, almost banal. As the kidnapping victim in 12 Years a Slave says, 'I don't want to survive. I want to live.' He simply endures, with all the courage and dignity he can muster. His situation, the heroism of his situation, is easy to understand."

"The slave owner, played by Michael Fassbender, is a far more mysterious, more fascinating type: What kind of man wants to flog nearly to death the mother of the child he adores? What kind of man rests against people as if they were furniture? It is a testament to the power of American denial that Fassbender's portrayal of a slave owner is the finest ever put down on film."

Madison Washington, a cook who was enslaved in Virginia after attempting to rescue his wife after he escaped to Canada, was the first to spark the overthrow. The slaves were kept in a forward hold and when a grate was lifted, Washington overtook the deck. Washington and 17 other men sparked the clash by taking on the captain’s crew and killed a trader with a knife. The captain was wounded, but escaped with his life as he hid inside the ship’s rigging.

The slaves demanded the ship be sailed towards Liberia, as it was the only country they knew former slaves could go for freedom. However, another slave mentioned they should sail to the British West Indies because slaves were freed there a year prior. Upon arriving at Nassau, Bahamas on November 9, the ship was boarded by Black Bahamians who declared the group free under British colonial law.

...White slave owners were angered at the loss of workers they considered nothing more than property.

"There are reasons why films of this vein are more readily produced than others. Both economic and social values influence the resurrection of historical accounts like the Amistad while Gabriel Prosser, Harriet Tubman and Charles Deslondes suffocate in obscurity.

One thought is that white audiences should never be left feeling guilty about their ancestors’ sins. Many can walk out of the theater and say to themselves: 'I would’ve been more like Brad Pitt if I was alive during Slavery,' even though residue of the system still permeates around them today — and one could argue that there’s a shortage of mass white outrage over the fact.

In essence, the Prossers and Tubmans of our past deny Hollywood this safety net. They resisted oppression and sacrificed their lives to liberate others.

But more importantly, they don’t leave much room for white saviors. They are the black Bravehearts. And for many of us, we hope to see the day when they’re finally seen in full heroic form on the big screen."

Leah Remini, a former cultist (yes!) on Dancing With The Stars - I honestly thought I may never see such a thing:

But then, so did Scientology,...