It took a filmmaker of some renown and creativity to draw the attention of millions to this episode. The film is not the end of the story, but the beginning of an exploration of this fascinating and instructive event. Yes, authorship issues have been raised. Yes, historians have pointed to inaccuracies. But a film like Amistad , with all its controversies, is a starting point.
History is the telling of the stories of real people.
It used to be a challenge digging up those stories. Back in February 1976, when Black History Month was first celebrated, there was an embarrassing scarcity of materials available to meet growing student interest and an increasing number of teacher assignments. The publishing industry has certainly responded. It invites us to explore individual stories, to create our own interpretations of these stories, to act as historians ourselves. It has accelerated a process that has been in motion for two or three decades.