Can you help me write a screenplay about slavery?
Slavery is a very complicated subject with many layers. Perhaps you can concentrate on one aspect of slavery, such as the Middle Passage, which was the journey slaves took from Africa to the New World. This journey was frightening and deadly for many people. You could also concentrate on what life was like for American slaves on plantations. A good source of information is Frederick Douglass's autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass . In the beginning chapters, he discusses what it was like to grow up on a plantation where he did not often see his mother and commonly witnessed the beatings of family members. A third idea is to use Frederick Douglass's descriptions (in later chapters of his autobiography) of his life in Baltimore to produce a movie or script about a slave who worked in an urban area. Douglass worked on ships and earned wages,...
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which were given to his masters. In these later chapters, he explains he wanted to read, but his slave mistress, who initially taught him some rudimentary parts of reading, then was not allowed to continue to teach him. People thought teaching slaves to read would ruin them for slavery, as they would develop a mind of their own. This situation renewed Douglass's determination to learn to read. Using Douglass's life could help you develop a story line related to slavery.
How can I write a screenplay about the topic of slavery?
Slavery is an incredibly broad topic. Assuming that your screenplay or script will be focused on slavery in America, you may want to select an aspect of it to focus on.
Slaves were brought to the New World from Africa for hundreds of years before the United States was even established as a country. You may want to focus your script on the experiences of someone living in slavery.
Native Africans were captured or sold by their own people to slave traders. They had to endure terrifying and miserable journeys on slave ships in close quarters as they traveled across the Atlantic. You could write about this aspect of slavery from the perspective of a Native African being taken from their home. In this, you could contrast their life in Africa to their new future of being enslaved.
Slaves were bought and sold at slave auctions once they reached America. This was a frightening process for slaves. Many times families were split apart when one was sold to a different owner than the others. Husbands and wives could be separated. Children might be taken away from their mothers. You could write about this horrifying time in your script, showing the dramatic emotions that slaves went through as they endured this terrible process.
Once slaves were purchased, they went to work for their owners. Some worked on large plantations and in fields. Others worked in homes. If slaves tried to run away, they might be beaten. You could write about the experiences of a slave and their working conditions. You could also focus on how they settled into a new place with new people.
The Underground Railroad played an important role in the lives of some slaves. The routes and the people along the way provided slaves a way to escape their difficult situations. You could write about this suspenseful journey in your script. Often, slaves who escaped were pursued by people or even dogs. They had to hide in the woods or in the homes of "station masters" (people who helped slaves escape). "Conductors" (such as the famous Harriet Tubman) helped to guide slaves on their journey. Wanted posters offered rewards for their return to their master.
When writing your screenplay or script, you can show action through dialogue if you choose. You may also want to add other details, such as differences in language. A Native African would probably not speak English, and therefore would face the additional challenges of a language barrier.
I am attaching a few links, which contain a timeline, maps, and other helpful information on slavery. Good luck!
References
How can I write a screenplay about slavery?
Here's a suggestion: write the screenplay from the point-of-view of an African-American male born into slavery in Maryland in 1780. His parents can tell him about the American Revolution, and how some slaves even helped fight on the American side. Let this slave lead a long life. If you like, you can have him get married, but his family is separated via sales. Let him talk of slave revolts and rumors of slave revolts. Give him an understanding master who will tell him things of the outside world--for this, I guess he would have to be a domestic servant. Let the slave in our screenplay be around at the time of the Civil War, and finally, let him still be leaving at the time of the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment which freed the slaves. This would give the protagonist (the slave) a big view on history. He could even tell his life story through flashbacks to a member of the Freedman's Bureau in the late 1860s.
This would give a big view on slavery; I hope that the play is at least ten minutes long, because you would need that to incorporate all parts of the story. Of course, you can always edit the life story of the slave to whatever you needed.