Movie Research Harriet by Kasi Lemmons Discussion

I love movies, and I think they are a great tool for learning about the past. They offer an opportunity to learn about lots of audial and visual historic information like architecture, fashion, language, technology, and even behavior. For this assignment, I want students to pick a movie from a provided list, then watch and analyze the movie for historical accuracy. After watching the film, you will conduct research into a period, person, or event featured in your film and learn what was true and what was false. The objective of this assignment is for you to utilize historical documents and information you find online as resources to evaluate a the historical accuracy of the movie you watch. You don’t have to prove the entire film is true or false, instead think of how the movie portrays a collection of people, places, and things. (I recommend 3) Each of these topics are subject to historic scrutiny. You will use a minimum of four sources to research and verify the historical accuracy of your topics from the movie. (At least 1 must be a PRIMARY Source) Students will complete a worksheet and use the information gathered to complete a detailed outline. A completed outline, worksheet, and a work cited page must be submitted to the dropbox for full credit. 

For this assignment you are going to watch a movie from the list provided below, do some secondary and primary research, and then create a detailed outline and a works cited page. The purpose of this assignment is to improve your reading comprehension, researching, and writing skills. Here is how I recommend you proceed:

1. Pick a movie from the list below, preferably one that you haven't seen. 
2. Watch the movie, observe and take notes. Try to find things in the film that you find interesting, curious, or questionable.
3. Research the movie for historical accuracy. Luckily the internet makes this part, very easy! Try googling the title of your film + historical accuracy.
4. Find sources. Use the internet to find both primary (min. 1) and secondary sources (min. 3). Try googling the title of your film + primary source.
5. Organize your thoughts. Start with a rough simple outline, pick 3 points your found interesting from your movie to research and discuss.
6. Organize your research. What evidence (or examples) do you want to use to prove your thesis (or opinion)? Is your film historically accurate?
7. Expand your outline. Compare the film to your research, and include information and examples from your research and the movie (as evidence).