ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines a pedagogical framework for using filmic representations to teach about historical realities of plantation slavery and challenge a tradition of ignoring, trivializing, or romanticizing the struggles of enslaved communities. It examines the film 12 Years a Slave and online comedy series Ask a Slave as part of the newest chapter in a long history of slavery counter-narratives that challenge what is often a "whitewashed", sanitized repetition of the United States' dark past. These filmic counter-narratives draw attention to chattel slavery's complexity and brutality in their own unique ways, using different representational strategies ranging from violence to humor. The chapter discusses how media portrayals of slavery can help students develop more nuanced and responsible understanding of a historically difficult topic. Slavery brings a range of moral, intellectual, and emotional issues into the classroom through which teachers must be prepared to help students work.
