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Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored (Republic Pictures, 1996, 113 Minutes) Review by Dr. Jeff Mio, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona Film Relevance and Connection to the Text This film is most related to Chapter 14-Intergroup Relations and Multiculturalism. However, it also has relevance to Chapters 3 (The Self in Culture), 4 (Attitudes), 5 (Attributions), 10 (Prejudice), 11 (Aggression), 12 (Gender), 13 (Group Dynamics), and 15 (Conflict Resolution, the Law, and the Developing World). Summary/Synopsis This movie is an autobiographical story about Clifton, an African American boy born in the Mississippi Delta in 1946. The main industry of the region is cotton picking, and most of the African American families were poor sharecroppers. The movie depicts the African American community sharing the responsibility for raising their children and passing on the values of the community in the truest sense of the African proverb "It takes a village," made popular by Hillary Clinton's 1996 book. The period, from 1946 until the early 1960s, depicts the racially segregated south during the time when the Civil Rights Era was germinating. At that time, African Americans from the poor rural south fantasized about the north, believing it to be a Utopia where African Americans could be free from the shackles of de facto slavery. However, strong family ties and values kept most rooted to their communities. The movie depicts a Ku Klux Klan march, segregated drinking fountains and restrooms, a blatant attempt to drive a community businessman (Cleve, the ice man) out of business, and the boss of the cotton fields as a racist of the era. Even a kind-hearted woman, Miss Maybry, held racially insensitive attitudes that were culturally derived, although she continued to fight off these attitudes whenever they were based on stereotypes instead of reality. However, the essence of the movie demonstrates how community unity helps people to cope with societal forces. Discussion Questions
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