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13th, By Ava Duvernay And Spencer Averick

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13th is a documentary by Ava DuVernay and Spencer Averick on the intersection of race, the American justice system, and the incarceration rate in the United States. It was officially released in 2016, and is titled after the Thirteenth Amendment in the U.S., which led to the freedom of slaves and prohibited slavery. 13th touched on many aspects of the suppression of African Americans, the war on drugs, Jim Crow laws, and the race inequality in the American prison system.
The documentary started off by stating that the United States has 5% of the world's population but 25% of the people in the world who are currently incarcerated. To many people today, the 13th amendment was a great deal because it freed slaves but what we fail to realize …show more content…

After the 13th amendment passed and slaves were freed, black people were suddenly being accused for trivial crimes and were thrown into jail, only to become slaves again but this time not in the fields, but rather in prisons. Think of it, black people never truly knew what liberation was or is because up to this very day, we are still being reviled, we are looked down upon, we face discrimination every day, and we will never be considered equal by everyone. When the 13th amendment passed, we were slapped in the face with the Jim Crow and for what? Because others could not accept slave liberty and that is deeply …show more content…

One in every seventeen white males will do prison time of some sort, compared with one in every three male African-Americans; once put in jail, prisoners automatically lose their rights, just as slaves would. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a nonprofit organization was behind the Florida “stand your ground” law that helped freed George Zimmerman after the murder of Trayvon Martin in 2012. Now Zimmerman is considered as a White Hispanic and Trayvon was of course, black; a child was shot and killed by a grown up because he felt threatened by a black kid and an organization helps justify the murder of this child. This is by all means unfair because if this crime went the other way around, one can bet that the black kid would be severely punished.
The 13th amendment freed at least four million slaves but as soon as they break a law, they are immediately reminded of those ruthless moments, they are branded as criminals. The documentary mentioned the civil rights era which came after the Jim Crow, and as if that was not enough, they began lynching African Americans, this was at the height of the rise of the Klu Klux

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13th is a documentary directed and produced by Ava Duvernay. The documentary dives deep into America’s prison system and America’s history of racial inequalities. The documentary contained many forms of rhetoric, including, kairos, logos, ethos, pathos, and visual rhetoric. Using these methods of rhetoric helps director Ava Duvernay get her point across to the audience.  

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The film 13th was documentary that explains mass incarceration, Jim Crow, and slavery as being the same forms. Through use of statistic, testimonies, and stories, the documentary portrays a message of what is and has been going on and has a call to action. The film starts off with explaining how there is a loophole a clause of the 13th amendment that makes it unconstitutional for anyone to be a slave except criminals, and ever since that loophole was discovered there was a mass of African Americans arrested. Although the film was able to show evidence for the parallels between slavery, Jim Crow laws, and mass incarceration, it did not provide solutions for this problem.

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The 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments had been ratified to ensure equality to any and all former slaves. The first step to equality was the 13th amendment which had abolished slavery in all states and any other territory of the United States but Black Codes had been designed to keep former slaves from being free of subservient labor. The 14th amendment provided what is known as the Civil Rights to all persons born in the United States and the 15th amendment had given voting rights to all male african americans thus allowing african americans to organize politically and eventually hold major offices in government. However, groups like the Ku Klux Klan had been organized to intimidate african americans from voting or being involved politically.

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Prior to the 1860s, before the end of the Civil War, African Americans in the US were generally treated as inferior citizens by the Whites. After the Civil War, however, slavery was abolished everywhere in the US. New laws were established, which were meant to end the slavery and to guarantee freedom to the freed slaves. The Thirteenth Amendment, which was ultimately enacted in 1865, was meant to end slavery in all states in the US. The Fourteenth Amendment, which was enacted in 1868, was meant to ensure that all citizens of the US,

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The thirteenth amendment freed African American people from slavery, and the nineteenth amendment gave women the right to vote; but that doesn’t mean these people still have the same amount of freedom as others. However free some may seem, every race and gender is still restrained by the same discriminatory shackles that held back their ancestors many years ago. Contrary to popular belief, the civil liberties of the United States have not been solved; and although some citizens would disagree, the act of forgetting previous experiences on how the nation was built, misusing the rights people are given, and treating other ethnicities or genders as inferiors, would prove otherwise. Although America has highly improved on civil liberties by imposing amendments such as the 13th and the 19th;

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The fourteenth amendment to the Constitution, ending slavery in the United States, had been in effect since before the turn of the century, yet African Americans still faced prejudice in many parts of the country, especially the South. In March 1931, nine black teenagers were arrested in Alabama and accused of homelessness, disorder, and, later, rape, after two white women testified against them. The series of trials, testimonies, and decisions that followed all contained core similarities, but differentiated greatly from each other overall. The initial trial, held in 1931, served only to show the predetermined prejudice against the Scottsboro boys because of the color of their skin.

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The “13th” is a documentary about the American system of incarceration and the economic forces behind racism in America especially in people of color. One of the claims that the author mentioned is that today incarceration is an extension of slavery. It is also mentioned that most of the time in society we are defined by race. In the documentary, we can see how African Americans are sentenced for many years since they are too poor to pay their fines or sometimes most of these people plead guilty to get out of jail fast. However, African Americans are separated from their families and also treated inhumanly in prisons just because they are of a particular race.

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Although slavery was declared over after the passing of the thirteenth amendment, African Americans were not being treated with the respect or equality they deserved. Socially, politically and economically, African American people were not being given equal opportunities as white people. They had certain laws directed at them, which held them back from being equal to their white peers. They also had certain requirements, making it difficult for many African Americans to participate in the opportunity to vote for government leaders. Although they were freed from slavery, there was still a long way to go for equality through America’s reconstruction plan.

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It was rough for African Americans in the 1890’s, and though they tried to live a normal easy life they always had obstacles that got in the way. They had thought everything was going good for them with the 13th and 14th amendment being announced. Also The Emancipation Proclamation which stated, on January 1, 1863, "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free" was a speech that actually came out before the 13th and 14th amendment which was the whole reason why those amendments had came out. The 13th amendment stated that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction”. This was such a big deal since

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During the 19th century most political controversies focused on the issue of slavery, many believed this issue was wicked and cruel and strongly disagreed with the idea of slavery, being active and acceptable. Owning the fact that many disagreed with slavery, the Republican Party announced a speech- all territories of the United States were said to be free and they were entitled to deny anyone who gives any legal existence to slavery in any territory of the United States (Document A). Many important figures in the Republican Party did not agree with nor supported anyone or anything that advocated for slavery. Slavery meant men, women, and even innocent children had to be treated unfairly and taken advantage of. All of this controversy

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1445 Words | 6 Pages

13th Documentary Analysis Ava DuVernay’s documentary mentions that the United States makes up five percent of the world’s population yet is home to twenty five percent of the world’s prisoners. One out of four prisoners in the world are locked up in the U.S. The United States now has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. The thirteenth amendment of the constitution makes it unconstitutional for someone to be held as a slave.

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838 Words | 4 Pages

The black folk were freed by the abolition of slavery, yet this new freedom was not so. Ther identity was forever fractured between black and American, and even after they internalized the whites’ perspectives of them, they still wanted to be both without the disadvantages and racism. They were degraded, dehumanize, and shamed for their lack of education and job skills. In 1865, the Freemen’s Bureau was established by Congress to provide them with aid after living in slavery and not owning tools, homes, or land.

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The thirteenth amendment stated that all former slaves were granted freedom. The reconstruction period, “did create the essential constitutional foundation for further advances in the quest for equality”. It laid the building blocks for the future building for civil rights not just for blacks but women and other minorities. Former slaves, “ found comfort in their family and in the churches they established”. Blacks took community in each other and bonded over the mutual idea of freedom .

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Hello, Robert~~ Good post this week. The Union won the Civil War, which gave liberty to be some 4 million slaves, but African Americans are facing new obstacles and negative attacks while from 1865 to 1877 as called the Reconstruction era.” The 13th Amendment officially revised by the issue of late 1865, prohibits the institution of slavery, before and after the South African liberation 'state was still many unresolved. Restrictive nature of the Code and a wide range of black resistance to enforcement is a lot of anger at the North, claims that it violates the fundamental principles of free labor ideology code (Black Codes, 2010).

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1991 Words | 8 Pages

The film is a densely packed, well researched focusing on mass incarceration and how the American incarceration system has evolved to its current state. Chalk full of statistics like “The United States is home to 5% of the world's population but 25% of the world’s prisoners” (DuVernay). Along with statistics, 13th’s imagery is haunting and a perfect blend of thought provoking speakers and curated footage to

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