...Consider, for example, the film’s troubling depictions of black women... there is not a shred of historical evidence to suggest that Cherry was ever raped by slave patrollers, nor is there any evidence to indicate that an attack on his wife inspired Turner to rebel.
By all accounts, Turner took up arms against slavery because he believed slavery was morally wrong and violated the law of God. In the months prior to the rebellion, he reported receiving a series of visions and messages from God predicting a cataclysmic “race war” that would destroy slavery, and by early 1831, Turner believed that God had selected him as the person to lead the revolt. According to the historical record, these were the only inspirations for Turner’s rebellion. This fact is important because it demonstrates that black people not only fought against slavery because of its extreme violence and brutality, but also because they knew in their hearts that slavery was an unjust, exploitative system that violated moral laws. In other words, they fought simply because they wanted to be free.So, then, why does it bother me that Parker and Celestin invented a false scenario about a brutal gang rape? Like the film’s other fabrications about black women, the rape story line is carefully constructed to redeem black masculinity at black women’s expense.
Based on what Nate Parker himself and Nate Parker's friends have said in an attempt to defend Parker, this is not a surprise.
Read More:
https://www.thenation.com/article/the-birth-of-a-nation-is-an-epic-fail/
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