Synopsis
The end of the Revolutionary War in 1783 saw a new nation break free from the shackles of British tyranny, but for hundreds of thousands of African Americans, the struggle for freedom was far from over. When the Civil War first began, of the 4.3 million African Americans living in the U.S., 3.9 million of them were still enslaved. At its core, the Civil War was about African American's fight for their freedom and the opportunity to create a better life for themselves in a country they helped nurture and build. Anchored by sit down interviews and personal narratives from Abdul-Jabbar, coupled with anecdotes from noteworthy historians and authors, "Black Patriots: Heroes of the Civil War" takes an in-depth look into the events and figures who laid the foundational blocks of freedom for African Americans in the U.S. such as lesser-known figures like former enslaved man turned war hero Robert Smalls and Union spy Mary Richards, to well-known heroes such as influential abolitionist Frederick Douglass and Underground Railroad pioneer Harriet Tubman. The Civil War highlighted the gross racial inequalities that still existed in this country carried over from a pre-abolitionist era, but also brought forth crucial figures who stepped up to eradicate inequality, paved the way for various freedom movements to come and showed that true democracy can be achieved.
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Producer
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Kareem Abdul-Jabaar,
Deborah Morales,
Steve Ascher,
Kristine Sabat,
Jessica Conway,
Stephen Mintz,
Jennifer Wagman
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Genre
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Documentary,
History
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Original Language
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English
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Runtime
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1h 0m
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