Allen says Freeman's character is symbolic of the many free, educated and wealthy blacks in the 1800s. Put in context, Tappan's observation followed a lower court decision that freed the Africans to return home to Sierra Leone, after which President Martin Van Buren appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. That does not make him evil. This is an artistic re-creation. None of us were there when the conversation was spoken.
History needs to be taught as a debate.
It needs to be looked at from different points of view, with more discipline. There are many different things to argue about. And no movie is all staid courtroom scenes, for that matter. High school and junior high school students should see it. Gambit Weekly .