Glory

The movie Glory should continue being shown in eighth grade social studies because it tells a story that many students may not have heard of. It tells a story from a point of view that may not be as popular compared to the others.

 Through the civil war unit and the war between the North and the South, many stories only talk about the details about how the South fought in the war, we never really heard of the war tactics and stories of the North. We had little knowledge of how African Americans fought in the war. We knew that African Americans had left slavery in order to join the war. This movie should continue being shown in social studies because it opens the eyes of the students. It makes the students more aware of how the African Americans worked really hard and fought in war even though they used to be enslaved. In the movie, you can see that the though African Americans were seen as inferior, they fought and worked hard to prove a point, that they could work and fight against the allies. Through intense and harsh treatment by the commanders, they were tough enough to go through it especially after working through harsher conditions on the plantations. I think that students begin to learn how different life was on the plantation compared to on the camp ground. 

Another reason why this movie should be seen by the students is because it shows stories of different characters that the audience would definitely grow attached to. All of these African Americans had such different stories, from Thomas being a free African American who enjoyed reading, to the man with a stutter, etc. All these ex-slaves came from such different backgrounds, but they all had a common goal. To fight and to help win the war. Regardless of the tough conditions, of having improper shoes, to sleeping in little tents with many others, they rarely complained. Students are going to be able to learn a really important lesson from the African Americans, even with differences and hardships, they all worked together to accomplish a common goal. 

All in all, I think that the movie Glory should continue being seen in eighth grade Social Studies class due to the fact that it allows students to be more aware of the different sides of the war, as well as get to know some of the characters that impacted the story and the meaning of it a lot more.