The Butler is an amazing account of the life of Cecil Gaines. Mr. Gaines was raised on a cotton plantation in 1926 in Macon, Georgia, His parents were Share croppers. Their life on the plantation was difficult at best. Cecil’s mother was raped and his father was killed by the plantation owner. When Cecil was a teenager he left his mother and the plantation life behind. The events that transpired took a devastating toll upon his mother. His mother became a mute, due to these events. The adventures of Cecil Gaines heighten, when he breaks into a pastry shop, and is taken by surprise when he is hired at that very hotel. When Cecil was on the Plantation, the estate’s caretaker trains Cecil as a house servant. This training would become the driving force behind the life of Cecil Gaines. His instruction from the White estate caretaker was to be invisible in the room amongst the white people whom he served. Shortly after Cecil move, he would meet and marry Gloria and they would have two children. However, Cecil’s life became most interesting when he is hired at the white house in !957. Cecil was hired during the Eisenhower’s administration, Cecil witness Eisenhower’s reluctance to use troops to enforce school desegregation in the south. The president would however, uphold the law by racially integrating Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas. As time goes on Cecil is spent many hours away from home. Gloria becomes an alcoholic, due to the lack of time and intimacy spent with Cecil. As with many couples the Gains faced marital problems, in fact Gloria comes close to having an affair with a neighbor. As time goes on Cecil continues working at the White house, and in 1961, John F. Kennedy is president. Mean while Louis Gains, Cecil... ... middle of paper ... ...rned in Psychology of the Minority Family, Dr. Hill developed a list of five strengths of the black family. Two of these strengths were the value of education and a desire to achieve. The Gains family demonstrated these strengths, in several ways. Cecil pursued gainful employment and advancement in his career. Louis on the other hand, obtained a masters degree in political science and ran for a seat in congress. Louis was the first college graduate of the family. Dr. Hill listed that Black families wanted their children to become educated. Most importantly Louis and others in the film were willing to die from their freedoms. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said “if something not worth dying for it’s not worth living for.”This film was very useful in its attempt to shed a light on our past in America. The struggle still continues for the African American family today.
It shows that Negros were able to purchase their freedom and purchase the freedom of their family members. It shows a sense of equality in the way that free blacks could go to court and potentially win cases against white farmers. Free blacks owning slaves and indentured servants, some of which were white, could also be seen as equality. It also shows how free blacks had a thought of a future in the way that they drew up wills in which their family members were granted land and livestock. Knowing that white farming landowners and free blacks lived together in a sense of harmony goes back to the main theme of Myne Owne Ground. It shows that slavery is indeed an embarrassment to our nation. Knowing that blacks and whites were able to live together, trade, and be civil towards each other shows that slavery was unfounded and not
Through every single obstacle a person went through no one gave up. Colored people did not lose hope in becoming equal to white people because they knew they were capable. What the author was trying to prove was exactly that. Although blacks were slaves and were always belittled by white they proved to be more than what the whites thought they were capable of. They stood up for themselves and they did it in several events that occurred in the book. For example, in the chapter a black teenager, James Crawford, was not slightly intimidated by a deputy registrar that attempted to sound intimidating. In the conversation the registrar made some menacing remarks to this young African American teenager saying he would put a bullet through the teenagers head. Not afraid at all, Crawford valiantly told him if it happened he would be dead, but people would come from all over the world. This young man was not afraid to stand up for himself and was not going to tolerate it in any way. Malcolm X was another inspiration to African Americans for the way he stood up for them. He had a strong connection with the people who were influenced by him. In late 1964, Malcolm X told a group of black students from Mississippi, “You’ll get freedom by letting your enemy know that you’ll do anything to get your freedom; then you’ll get it” (Zinn 461). This quote connected to how
This book was intriguing, fascinating, and balanced with a unique writing style. It’s a book that highlights every important aspect in Kings life, especially his work with the ministry, his vision of racial progress, and the important person he became. After reading this book I have come to the conclusion that the purpose for writing this biography was to convey the truth. To tell the truth of what actually happened in MLKs life from a fair point of view. From someone who would not judge or show bias in their writing toward King.
Lee Daniels’ The Butler, is considered to be one of many inspiring movies to me because it shows me how this nation has changed throughout the years to become a greater nation. This film was released in 2013 and was based on a true story that was first published in The Washington Post in 2008 by Wil Haygood called “A Butler Well Served by this Election”, and then made into a book in 2013 called “The Butler: A Witness of History by Wil Haygood also. Even though the characters in the film and in the book are not the real names of the people and also some of the events that occurred might not be true, such as the involvement of the son, Louis Gaines (David Oyelowo), in some of the historical events, the overall story line is true. The real name of the butler was Eugene Allen, however, in the book and in the movie the name of the butler was Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker). The story line was about a butler that had worked in the White House for 34 years and has served eight different presidents, from 1952 which was near the end of President Harry Truman’s time in office until he retired in 1986 which was during President Ronald Reagan’s time in office. Though out his whole time working at
...He had been a witness to see that African American people were getting treated wrong because of their skin color; he felt that it was not the right thing to do because everyone should get treated equally. Following his path of hard work and making a difference there were Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr. he paved the way for us black people to be equal in everything we have jobs, schooling, and our freedom, it has changed American history because African Americans have a came a long way from being slaves, beaten, and humiliated because of their skin. It has an impact on us because now if we see that we say something because we know that it is not right and really cruel. The lesson of this is to show that we all could take a stand no matter and not with violence all it takes is motivation, determination, and confidence to stand up for what you believe in.
The 2013 fictional film, The Butler, focuses on racial issues in America. The story begins in the 1920’s in Georgia. At the time, Cecil Gaines and his family are all slaves. Cecil Gaines and his father were in the field picking cotton. The master told Cecil Gaines’s mother to come with him to the shed and raped her. Young Cecil Gaines asked his father why he didn’t say anything. His father responded “This is the white man’s world, we’re just living in it.” Then his father told him to get back to work. Soon after, the master comes out of the shed and Cecil Gaines’s father says “hey.” The master takes out his gun and shoots him in the head. This part of the film highlighted the fear that was used to control slaves during this time.
Near the beginning of his book Frederick Douglas talks about how he was a slave in Baltimore for a Mr. Hugh Auld. At this house Douglass learns that even the nicest of people, such as Mr. Auld’s wife Sophia, turn into very different people due to slavery. When Douglass first meets Mrs. Auld, he describes her as “a woman of the kindliest heart and the finest feelings…none left without feeling better for having seen her.” However, once her husband tells her how to treat slaves and she feels what it is like to be in control of another human b...
In one way it is symbolic of the African Americans’ struggle for equality throughout our nation’s history. The various hardships that the narrator must endure, in his quest to deliver his speech, are representative of the many hardships that the blacks went through in their fight for equality.
.... In his life the restriction by the whites didn’t stop or discourage him from following his dream, which made him unique and outstanding. He was capable of thinking for himself, even though the whites had tried to “guide” him like the other blacks.
...le. He worked through the struggles and difficulties to make sure that his goals were accomplished. The actions he took allowed African Americans to gather hope and lead a change in our world.
...nspired to make a change that she knew that nothing could stop her, not even her family. In a way, she seemed to want to prove that she could rise above the rest. She refused to let fear eat at her and inflict in her the weakness that poisoned her family. As a child she was a witness to too much violence and pain and much too often she could feel the hopelessness that many African Americans felt. She was set in her beliefs to make choices freely and help others like herself do so as well.
This movie was inspiring and encouraging to anyone who is struggling with something. Overcoming his controversies in life became the main point of the movie. Knowing that this movie was based upon a true story inspires the people even more.
Through making the audience realize this, he also gave them hope for a world reborn without racism, without segregation, without discrimination, and without hate. King wanted his children to live in a world without judgment of race, but with the consideration of personality, for nobody should not endure judgment because of the way that they look. He spoke of his own children, which introduced a reinforced emotional attachment to the audience; this gave many parents a scenario to relate to because no parent wants their child exposed to the horrid crimes of discrimination.... ... middle of paper ... ...
The movie “The Butler” is directed and produced by Lee Daniel’s and written by Danny Strong, it is based upon a true story between the years 1920 – 2008 (2013). The story takes you through a time of the civil and human rights movement (including Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Freedom Riders, Malcolm X and the Black Panthers), the Vietnam war and ending with the election of the first black president of the United States of America, an era of the great black oppression, segregation and the fight for equal rights and opportunity and sometimes your life. The movie surrounds a conflict of determination between a father and son that also represents a generational change of the old and young. The main character is the butler named Cecil Gaines (father), which is determined to live a dignified and purposeful life while supporting his family and keeping them safe. The son, Louis Gaines is determined to bring change to a nation’s consciousness and lift the 200 years of oppression laid upon the black people of America and end white privilege that prohibited equal rights and opportunities. Louis was labeled a criminal and was
The film Lee Daniel’s The Butler chronicles the life of a black man named Cecil Gaines and his transition from living in poverty in the south as a youth to becoming a Butler at the White House. In the film Cecil recounts his his story. The film states in the 1920s when Cecil was a young boy living with his parents who worked and lived on a plantation in Georgia. One day on the planation, Cecil’s mother is raped by the plantation owner and when his father confronts him, he is shot dead. Not only did Cecil lose his father, but the death of his father and surely the rape deteriorate his mother’s mental state. The owner’s grandmother takes it upon herself to train Cecil to become a house servant. At the age of eighteen, Cecil leaves the plantation