In Spielberg’s ‘Lincoln,’ Passive Black Characters - NYTimes.com

It’s disappointing that in a movie devoted to explaining the abolition of slavery in the United States, African-American characters do almost nothing but passively wait for white men to liberate them. For some 30 years, historians have been demonstrating that slaves were crucial agents in their emancipation.

It reinforces, even if inadvertently, the outdated assumption that white men are the primary movers of history and the main sources of social progress. 

In fact, the capital was also home to an organized and highly politicized community of free African-Americans, in which the White House servants Elizabeth Keckley and William Slade were leaders.

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In Spielberg’s ‘Lincoln,’ Passive Black Characters - NYTimes.com: