Image source: Lupita Nyong’o Facebook Page
12 Year’s a Slave took the gold at the Oscar’s on Sunday night and for some the honor is still probably viewed with a bit of negativity.
I was delighted to see a movie that gave us a glimpse of slavery and its complexities from both the slave and slave owner’s perspective. Unlike other movies that have depicted slavery, this one provided an intimate treatment of the slave experience with all of its horrors and atrocities.
Steve McQueen is the first black director to receive this honor and Kenyan Lupita Nyong’o, a virtual newcomer to the big screen won supporting actress.
The controversy over the years when Blacks win these types of awards, is that they are mostly for stereotypical portrayals as slaves, butlers and maids.
While I am sensitive to that criticism, I think that 12 Year’s a Slave, the true story of Solomon Northup set in the pre-Civil War United States, , a free black man from upstate New York, who is abducted and sold into slavery, helps us to have a deeper understanding of American History (not as some, might assume, African American History). This story is about a part of American history that some would have us forget. We need to remember and in some cases learn about our past, even those parts that are most egregious.
As Lupita Nyong’o said in her acceptance speech,
It doesn’t escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is thanks to so much pain in someone else’s.
