ABSTRACT
The tension between the representations of African Americans in White society and the counter re(-)presentation reproduced by African Americans can be present within almost all facets of society, including novels, plays, literature, and film – what Brown and Kraehe call the tropes of representation. This chapter defines representations to mean a set of ideas and discourses that help to give meaning to people or a phenomenon. It gives attention to the existing literature about the depictions of race and African Americans within the topic of slavery in school curriculum. The chapter draws from this literature to show the enduring issues of how slavery is depicted in school curriculum. It offers that American film is a form of curriculum where notions of history are portrayed with the intent of providing historical knowledge. The chapter explains the key theories that guided analysis of each movie, including critical race theory and cultural memory.
