Stamped From The Beginning (2023)

If you are looking for a deep dive into the history of racism in the United States and world wide, go to the book of the same title. It is a phenomenal book, one which is being banned in some southern states have been banning; presumably because it flies in the face of what white supremacists want their kids to learn, both in school and in life. This is a wonderful overview of some of the book’s content, using animation, archival imagery, interviews, needle drops, and high-speed editing to fashion more of a vibrant shout than a traditional conversation starter. Some reviewers have talked about how disjointed it felt to them, that there are many good things covered, but not much of an opportunity to do a deep dive. I loved the organizational structure, which is to connect modern issues of racial inequity to things that were born in slavery, to men who agreed with that proclamation that not-white people were lesser and found ways to reinforce it in every aspect of society. Using interviews and archival footage, the documentary reveals how much that deigned inferiority has been reestablished in things like over-criminalization, hyper-sexualization, and blatant falsehoods. It is a nice prequel or paired film with the documentary 13th. Highly recommend. After watching it, I put David Waldstreicher’s new book “Phillis Wheatley: A Poet’s Journeys Through American Slavery And Independence on my reading list, to better understand individual stories.