Sinners: A Love Letter to Black Culture, Resiliency, and History
- theghoulsnextdoor
- May 27
- 22 min read
Sinners feels like two movies in one and both are phenomenal pieces of media. At once a beautiful, heartbreaking, and emotional depiction of Jim Crow era America and a charming, hilarious, and horrific exploration of faith, culture, and folklore. Ghouls unpack their takeaways from a film ripe with meaning and impact diving into the intersectionality, intentionality, and fantastical nature of the film.
Sources in this Episode:
the tale of Robert Johnson by Magnolia Tribune
Other Reading:
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Cane by Jean Toomer
Making Music: The Banjo in a Southern Appalachian County by William C. Allsbrook, Jr
Out of the Blue: Life on the Road with Muddy Waters by Brian Bisesi
Singing in My Soul: Black Gospel Music in a Secular Age by Jerma Jackson
Black Magic: Religion and the African American Conjuring Tradition by Yvonne P. Chireau
Worse Than Slavery: Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice by David M. Oshinsky
Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmon
Media from this week's episode:
Sinners (2025)
Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.
Director Ryan Coogler
Sinners: A Testament to the Power of Souls, Music, History and Community
by gabe castro
RED: Quotes, someone else's words.
Synopsis
Ryan Coogler’s Sinners feels like two movies in one and both are phenomenal pieces of media. At once a beautiful, heartbreaking, and emotional depiction of Jim Crow era America and a charming, hilarious, and horrific exploration of faith, culture, and folklore. The film starts by introducing us to the history of talented musicians throughout different cultures who’s music is powerful enough to reach across the veil and through time - a power shared around the world and seen in West Africa, Ireland, China and in our indigenous cultures in the Americas. We learn of the power of music and its ability to straddle both sides of our experiences, one foot firmly in reality, the other in mysticism.
Sinners follows the talented blues musician, Sammie on the day that changed his life forever. After the arrival of his twin, notorious cousins, Smoke and Stack, Sammie finds himself in the middle of a battle for true freedom in a world that fights to deny him and his community of that in every way. Smoke and Stack take Sammie under their well-tailored wings as they assemble the final pieces to open their juke joint. Finally home from war, a shady history, and even shadier dealings with various mobs in Chicago, the brothers are bleeding money into their community in a hope to find stability back home. Sammie, the son of a preacher, jumps at this new opportunity to showcase his talent and true love, the blues. The first part of the film (what feels like its own movie) follows this trio as they divide and conquer to find musicians, food, a new sign, performers, and barkeeps for opening night.
Smoke and Stack enlist the help from Delta Slim, an old drunkard musician who’s a staple in the community of nightlife, Grace and Bo Chow, the Chinese immigrant grocery store owners (on both sides of the street), and Cornbread, an honest man working the fields to feed his family who signs on as their bouncer. Love also offers us insight into the minds and histories of these men - Stack’s forbidden love with the white-passing, Mary, who, after their relationship abruptly ended with Stack leaving for Chicago, is now living as a married white woman. Smoke enlists the help of his love, Annie, a pillar of the community providing them with ointments and healing remedies based in the West African hoodoo traditions. Smoke and Annie had lost their infant daughter before he fled to Chicago. And lastly, Sammie meets the flirtatious (and married) Pearline who attends the juke joint for a night of freedom and to sing.
Soon, the audience is introduced to the second part of the movie when a burning man seemingly falls from the sky into our frame. He hobbles to a lone country home and pleads with the white folk inside to let him in, which they do despite warnings from the indigenous tribe - leading to their vampirism.
Now fully moving into the second half (might as well be a second film), the Juke Joint is in full swing with laughter, music, sweat and history emanating. Smoke and Stack argue over their women, their misdeeds, and the doomed future of their financial endeavor while Sammie discovers himself in all the ways that matter (singing his heart out and making love to a woman.) When Sammie plays a heartfelt blues ballad that thins the veil, he invites spirits from the past and future into the space - luring vampire Remmick to their haven where he wishes to partake in the magic himself.
The second part of the film is gory, sticky, hilarious, and emotional as these people fight not only their right to exist but to enjoy themselves. It's a brilliant ode to Black history and culture, in all its messy imperfections and complexities - exploring religion, families, allies and legacy.
I genuinely don’t know if anything I say in this episode will be necessarily new or exciting to you but I wanted to use this time as an opportunity for me to simply fan-ghoul about all the aspects of this film that I truly admire and appreciate. A list, mind you, that is ever growing - so I invite you to share your theories, thoughts, and feelings about the film with us.
I saw Satan fall like lightning from Heaven
Since this is a horror film, let’s start by talking about our villains. It’s plural because, as most horror films teach us, villains come in all forms and are often more complex than we give them credit for. Remmick, the obvious villain and leader of the vampires is a charming man who preys on people in a very specific way - he knows what they want to hear (using prejudice against the native people to capture Bert and Joan’s pity or feigning an appalled reaction to being accused of being Klan to appease the Black folk in the club.) He is a complex individual and while he may have been genuinely disappointed at being labeled a klansman, he had no qualms leaning on the assumption earlier in the film. He is a skilled conman with the ability to sway his victims.
Something I truly appreciated in the film was having Remmick be an Irishman. Firstly, in naming Ireland as one of the countries with folklore attached to music and identifying it as a culture of oppression, we can see Remmick in a different light than generic villain - the girl has layers. In that emotional ending, with Sammie attempting to use the religion his father claims can save him and that he had been fighting under the shadow of, Remmick laughs citing his own torrid history with the words. He shares that his own people had met a similar fate to the black folk here, their history and culture demonized and their community forcibly converted. (While trying to assimilate Sammie and the others for his own gain, we see you girl and it’s not cute.)
-There’s something to be said here as well on how Annie’s faith was the only true protector in the film, the necklace for Smoke and the various remedies for haints/vampires that the group in the club are quick to equip. Christianity didn’t save anyone but hoodoo certainly kept folx safe.-
It’s also important that Remmick fell from the sky aflamed, just as an angel cast from heaven (hello Lucifer). In exploring this complicated relationship with religion, Remmick fulfills the role of tempting and charming Satan, known for his beguiling charm and offer of true freedom. The Spotify page for the Sinners soundtrack actually provides us with some fun history and easter eggs for the film. If you go to the about section and scroll through the images, you will find newspaper articles. One offers a glimpse into Remmick’s first fiery arrival. The Boston Daily Journal front page shares a “Grisly Discovery at Boston Harbor,” where an immigrant ship was wrecked and featured no survivors. The Celtic Hare ship arrived at the dock with a ship full of bloodsoaked wood, burned remnants and no bodies. Witnesses report seeing strange flickering lights and hearing music the night before. As cops investigated, a woman reported that she saw a lone man fleeing the scene, his skin “reportedly smoking as he disappeared into the shadows.” Just as Dracula crossed the sea on The Demeter, this is how Remmick found his way to the states. And clearly, he’d been a vampire long before he met the twins (been around for about 600 years!)
In those last moments of the film, where older Sammie shares with (spoilers) vampire Stack and Mary that while that night had been the worst night of his life, nightmares still haunt him in this old age, until the sun went down it was also the best day of his life. For Smoke and Stack, and the other folk in that juke joint, for a few moments they were truly free. It was a freedom that whether vampires really visited them that night was doomed for failure - freedom was never on the table. Had Remmick never been summoned by Sammie’s siren song, the Klan would’ve come for them in the morning. Had the Klan never made it or been defeated, the angry Italian and Irish mobsters of Chicago were certain to find their way to the brothers for their retribution. Those boys were always dead men walking on borrowed time. Which is why I feel Remmick isn’t the exclusive villain of this story. It always boils back down to society in the end. Hell, I’d name the plantation and factory owners as villains too for creating a company town economy robbing their workers of real currency.
How much is a soul worth?
In the final end credit scene of the film, we see Sammie playing a traditional gospel song with his own blues twist in the chapel his father runs. At one point, he looks up and smiles at someone or something the audience can’t see. This short scene has spurned many theories and ideas behind Sammie’s character and influence.
A prevailing theory lingers around the tale of Robert Johnson, the musician who sold his soul to the devil. As the story goes, Johnson was an ordinary Mississippi man with mediocre guitar skills who one drunken, cool night found himself at a literal crossroads. A mysterious man, sitting on the side of the road with his sickly dog and who somehow knows Johnson, offers Johnson talent - the opportunity to be the king of the delta blues; to have all the whisky and women he could dream of. Johnson agrees, needing to have that sound of blues in him and readily signs away his soul. The man is understood to have been the devil or to others, Papa Legba. He went on to live a complicated life of loss, using his talent to find moments of pleasure, before dying at the young age of 27.
The truth of what happened to Johnson will always be a mystery - how the man went from a nobody with a guitar to the father of blues with a sound that perplexes historians even now. The man had embraced the tale, often referencing hoodoo and temptation in his lyrics. It’s no stretch to see the inspiration of this folktale on Sammie’s character, a young boy running from his own religious upbringing and finding his way out through the “corrupt and evil” blues. However, I feel that when we align Sammie’s skills with a corrupting, evil force we’re minimizing his innate talent and inspiration. The film is called Sinners because it's full of that - a whole juke joint of sinners and complicated folk who all need a win. Sammie is no different, but he’s not evil.
I think of his father who so adamantly believed the guitar was a corrupting force and while I do believe he was right to be suspicious of the goings-ons at a juke joint (a whole lotta sinnin’), his real fear came from the fact that he had to watch his son play the guitar that belonged to his dead, evil brother. Imagine knowing the fate of your kin, tying it to something as practical as music and then watching your son not only indulge in that music but play the very same instrument - of course he thinks he’s being corrupted! In the same way that christianity did fuck all to protect anyone in this film, I think the devil has little to do with it too. Instead, Sammie’s music and his natural connection to the veil are what save him. It’s not the prayer that stops Remmick from biting Sammie, it’s his silver guitar. In the end, when offered “redemption” and after enduring the most intense traumatic “i told you so” moment which could turn any sinner born-again, Sammie still chooses music.
It’s the healing force the whole way through - not only in the grand moments of reaching across time but also in the soft moments of connection in the car, in the singing at the train station, and in the chanting at the railroad. The power and community of music was always there with us, even in the darkest parts where religion and the devil himself couldn’t be found.
And another thing
I could honestly write an entire book about all the parts of Sinners that you could learn from. This film will most certainly have its own chapter when the Ghouls eventually write their own book about media. Kat found this very helpful syllabus that we’re sharing in our blog for you to dig into further as well - The ‘Sinners’ Movie Syllabus - AAIHS But since I don’t have a whole book or even a chapter’s worth of time to dive into every part of the film that moves me, let me just crash through some final points.
Haint Blue and other musings
Firstly, as I’ve mentioned in a few ways throughout my section, I find it so important that Annie’s faith and the impact of griots was the root of power in this film. Religion certainly has its place and can be a powerful force - even christianity. But I’ve always had a complicated relationship with Christianity - especially with its history of oppression for indigenous practices (it was used as a defense for slavery but then so many Black communities hold it as a practice.) I digress, what I want to focus on was the idea of Haints and hoodoo in the film.
Annie at first believes Mary and the others to be haints, “evil spirits who escape their human forms at night to paralyze, injure, ride, or even kill innocent victims.” There’s so much history and influence in this film it makes me scream that I don’t have all the time in the world. In an article titled, 'That ain't no haint': 'Sinners' movie references evil spirit. But what is it exactly? On USA Today, they explain the use of “haint blue” to trick haints into believing they stumbled into the water or the sky which they are unable to move through - the color, first produced on indigo plantations across South Carolina, is utilized by Coogler in the film. Ultimately, I think it’s amazing that Annie was our hero (in more ways than one - hoodoo priestess, dark-skinned and thick love interest, honest mother, and community pillar - I live.)
Grace had every right, fight me
The Chinese allies are super important. Especially where the film takes place which has a rich history of Chinese immigrants who at first were expected to work the fields but later became the proprietors of groceries in the region. They were deeply connected to the Black community and the Asian community has a history of being allies, fighting alongside Black Americans for civil rights. I just wrote an article about an art exhibit linking the music movements of Asian Americans to their activist work alongside Black and brown people in the 50s-80s. They’ve always been there and while the topic is currently tumultuous with some Asian folx having sided with the idea of removing DEI because they believed that would somehow benefit them (and by extension the history of removing themselves from battles when the attacks turn to them.)
Which leads me to Grace’s supposed betrayal which I don’t see as betrayal at all. In so many ways, Grace and Bo were seen as allies and as members of the community, but they weren’t seen as family. She had every right to urge Bo to leave and she had all the reason to want to protect her daughter. Yes, the sun was going to come up but there was no guarantee that they weren’t going to send some vampires off before the end of the night to kill her daughter or worse, to wait until the next day. With their power, either they were all going to have to die that night or the whole town would be vampires by the end of the month, week even. Second, she tried to reason with Smoke and he wasn’t hearing it - she really had no choice. She called him out on it too, he could shoot a man in the street for attempted robbery but couldn’t kill a literal monster because it wore his brother’s face? She was at her wits end and forcing their hand made all the sense to her. So you can absolutely go on hating Grace but I think you’re wrong.
Happily Ever After
Last note: Stack got to live forever with Mary since they couldn’t live together in their time. Their love was forbidden in this lifetime in so many ways, not just in their perceived races but also with Stack’s sordid history and a past that was bound to catch up. This was their happy ending. On the other hand, Elijah (Don’t bring that Smoke near the baby) and Annie got to be ancestors. Smoke got to finally rest, no longer in charge of his brother’s well being and able to be with the woman he loves but couldn’t be with because of pain, grief and his actions. Now, he and Annie can continue protecting those they love from the other side and with the person they lost, their baby daughter. To me, both brothers got their happy endings. In their deaths, they got to be truly free.
Read Black Girl Watching’s piece, In 'Sinners,' the Deaths Feel Like a Metaphor (Review) to get a brilliant deep dive on the movie including more about the importance and power of music in the film. How Remmick wanting, “your stories, your songs” is a metaphor for the music industry preying on griots. She goes into the dangers of Mary, a perceived white woman who selfishly jeopardizes the lives of all the Black folk in the juke joint. Read for thoughts on assimilation, appropriation, and the theme of freedom. Highly recommend it!
Sinners: Black History Persevering in the Face of Erasure
by Kat Kushin
RED: Quotes, someone else's words.
Sinners: Teaching Black History in a time when historical erasure is high
Everyone who has been listening to us probably thought we would LOVE Sinners, and we’re happy to inform you that you are absolutely correct, we did. Sinners accomplishes what the Ghouls love to see, historically accurate and influenced horror that aims to teach AND entertain its viewers. During a time where historical erasure is on the rise, Sinners answers the need for Black History and Black stories through a medium that is accessible and teaches the audience while entertaining them as well. In an article titled: Ryan Coogler’s "Sinners" is Black history written with lightning | SALON By Rann Miller, they discuss how despite the administration denying the desire for and existence of Black History, and Black Stories, people are showing up for Sinners! The $250 million plus box office take away by Sinners shows us that the world needs and wants more.
Miller continues saying: “The Trump Administration doesn’t simply view Black history as the enemy of whiteness, but as the perfect foil to exploit whiteness amongst their base to pick their pockets in order to consolidate power. Erasing the history of Jackie Robinson’s military service or rewriting the history of Harriet Tubman’s purpose behind rescuing the African captives of enslavement not only whitewash Black history, but it elicits outrage from the African American community (rightfully so) so that outrage can be manipulated to convince the Trump base to allow Trump to avenge them by way of his decisions, as he deconstructs the rights, freedoms and autonomy of citizens and institutions. This (mis)use of Black history is his weapon against the people, whereas Mr. Coogler’s use of history is a weapon for the people against the fascism of the Trump administration and their acolytes.” Sinners picks up where educational institutions and state and federal funding disruptions can’t, and can inspire us to fight back against this historic erasure.
Not only do we get an accurate portrayal of all the nuances of the Jim Crow South, but we also get multifaceted characters that each teach something different. They are cues to motivate the audience to further study. It inspires us to question what we learned in school, and what wasn’t. It encourages us to do a double take when reflecting on the whitewashed American history, and ask questions, read and watch more. The SALON article continues that: “The power and prolific nature of Black music displayed in "Sinners" is a reminder that Black history didn’t start with our enslavement, but with our majestic and mighty civilizations in Africa, and as we liberated ourselves from our enslavement, so too will we be liberated from white supremacy.” The history and representation in Sinners urges us to envision a past where BIPOC communities existed, thrived, and overcame and a future where they will continue to. The music throughout the film is so intentional, and adds so much to the historical context of the film. Each character and their ancestral history, past and future gets a moment to shine, both in the soundtrack, but visually in the iconic scene where Sammie plays for the crowd.
In another article titled: “Sinners” and the Urgency of Preserving Historical Truth | The Madison Times by Michelle Bryant, they unpack Sinners from the lens of their lived experience and their degree in African-American history. Bryant says: “More than just a movie about vampires, this film is a cinematic tapestry of the often-erased histories of marginalized communities—Chinese immigrants, Native Americans, the Irish, and most certainly African Americans—all of whom played pivotal roles in shaping the United States.” They continue “The film gave a nod to the Chinese laborers, who primarily built the Central Pacific portion of the transcontinental railroad under brutal conditions. The tragic displacement of Native Americans during westward expansion, the struggles of African Americans exiting slavery, and a needle-eye view of the oppression of the Irish. These stories are not just historical footnotes—they are a significant part of the lifeblood of the American experience. Yet, many movie-goers will know little of these experiences, contributions, and the regional significance of the movie’s setting in the Mississippi Delta.”
The unfortunate reality is that historic erasure is nothing new, it has been the framework of American education from its inception. What we are seeing now is a resurgence of the loud and boisterous erasure of anything that does not pedestal whiteness. Using schools as the battleground for both historic erasure and funding inequities. Bryant notes the sanitization of history curriculums, book banning and melting pot assimilation is dangerous, detaching us from our history and the context to change the future. Thinking back to my own early education, those things were the root of everything I had to unlearn in adulthood and educate myself against. So in repositioning this sanitized version of events, were at risk of creating another generation that will enter adulthood having to intentionally relearn history, with the unfortunate reality that many won’t, not even from conscious ignorance but because the system does not give us rest, time or the skills to do this kind of continued learning. We’re losing out on critical foundational learning, context that would be essential to not make the same mistakes. Thinking of Talk to Me, and how much the lack of context around her mother’s death harmed Mia’s understanding of herself and the world around her. In falsifying history we are harming an entire generation of students, who won’t be able to make sense of what is happening around them because they are missing the context of our true past. A past that if they dig deep enough through the noise and mess of the internet they may be able to learn once they leave the schooling system, or if they have the funds to navigate colleges.
Sinners tries to bridge this gap by framing this story in a real historical context, giving the audience somewhere to jump off of when they go to learn more. An example of this is the interaction between Remmick and the Choctaw people. The interaction is brief but gives a nod to real history. In an article titled: Sinners: how real stories of Irish and Choctaw oppression inform the film on The Conversation by Rachel Stuart, they note that the Choctaw and the Irish had been historical allies, and the real Choctaw sent money to the starving Irish during English-induced famine in the 1840s, during a period in which the Choctaw were experiencing their own genocide at the hands of Andrew Jackson’s trail of tears. This allyship makes the Choctaw’s pursuit of Remmick especially interesting because if we look to history, this would suggest that this conflict was a subtle nod to the fact that Remmick had lost his way, and had lost the Irish spirit of resistance.
Another thing the article mentions that I found really interesting was the outrage Remmick expresses about the death of Annie, showing that he wasn’t only interested in Sammie but also the hoodoo knowledge and strength Annie possessed. Stuart notes that “Annie, who is steeped in Black culture and can see the vampire’s real intentions, symbolises the way many Black women can resist a social system that is both capitalist and racist. This system doesn’t allow them to ignore the dangers it brings…It is the strength and energy of Africa embodied in Annie’s traditional beliefs that Remmick truly seeks to possess, and he is distraught when she dies without being turned into a vampire.” They continue that in contrast to Sammie, Annie has fought against the colonisation of her spirituality so she offers knowledge and power that is something Remmick needs, having lost his own spiritual and ancestral connections.
Sinners Syllabus, the learning continues!
Something we love to see as a response to a film like Sinners, is “next steps.” We wanted to give a big shoutout to Black Perspectives the award-winning blog of the African American Intellectual History Society (AAIHS) who created The ‘Sinners’ Movie Syllabus - AAIHS By Jemar Tisby & Keisha N. Blain. This Syllabus outlines many historical texts, music, films, TV Series’ and websites that are recommended to learn about after watching the film. My guess is that after ingesting all of it, it would be great to rewatch the film again with the gained context. I wish we had the time to go through every section and dissect each historical topic, but I’ll at least give an overview of what they highlight, with the hopes that you’ll go to their syllabus and learn as much as you can.
The Syllabus is segmented by topic, starting with readings on the Mississippi Delta and the Jim Crow South, the backdrop for Sinners. They highlight books like Worse Than Slavery: Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice by David M. Oshinsky, and Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmon. Two of the many listed books that you can find on their page, that overview the historical context of Jim Crow. To give a brief dip toe into the topic, here is a brief overview and context for what the books will be unpacking further. According to history.com, Jim Crow laws started immediately after the ratification of the 13th Amendment that abolished slavery in the United States. Called Black codes, these laws were strict and sought to control every facet of Black American life. The goal of these codes was to get around the 13th amendment by ways of the prison system. The amendment still allows slavery for those imprisoned, so these codes were meant to arrest and funnel as many Black Americans as they could into the prison system and therefore back into slavery, or what they classified as legal indentured servitude. Additionally these laws sought to remove voting rights, control labor, travel, and even seize children for labor purposes. This was further pushed by the KKK and the fact that many former Confederate soldiers worked as police and judges. With plantations still set up to subjugate, many transformed into prison labor camps, where prisoners would be treated as enslaved people. We see this reality throughout Sinners, and the impact of it on our characters.
As the syllabus continues they cover African American Christianity and Spirituality, giving more context to Sammie and Annie’s characters. Listing further reading in books like Black Magic: Religion and the African American Conjuring Tradition by Yvonne P. Chireau – Singing in My Soul: Black Gospel Music in a Secular Age by Jerma Jackson – and Working Cures: Healing, Health, and Power on Southern Slave Plantations by Sharla Fett. Overviewing the history of how Chrisitianity was forced upon Black Americans, and also how African spiritual roots transformed the practicing of Christianity within their communities. How characters like Annie represented real women who fought to preserve their traditions in spite of the oppression and danger they faced at the hands of White Americans.
They move on to Blues Music: Origins, Evolution, and Propagation, providing a guide to the development of the Blues, and how important music and arts are to perseverance. The syllabus mentions Out of the Blue: Life on the Road with Muddy Waters by Brian Bisesi – and Making Music: The Banjo in a Southern Appalachian County by William C. Allsbrook, Jr, as well as many more. Overviewing the history and roots of Blue’s music and what it has grown into. There is also highlighting of African American Art, Poetry, and Literature in the Jim Crow Era, listing The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes –Cane by Jean Toomer – and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.
There is also the importance of the Great Migration, which is what led Smoke and Stack to Chicago. The syllabus highlights the book The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson, which begins with the poem The Warmth of other Suns by Richard Wright:
“I was leaving the South
to fling myself into the unknown . . .
I was taking a part of the South
to transplant in alien soil,
to see if it could grow differently,
if it could drink of new and cool rains,
bend in strange winds,
respond to the warmth of other suns
and, perhaps, to bloom”
In traveling North millions hoped to find a place where they could grow outside of the Jim Crow south, hoping for better lives. What Smoke and Stack experience in Chicago is that racism is still there, it’s just wearing a different mask. It still harms and subjugates but in a way that was unfamiliar and therefore less safe for them. A brief overview of the Great Migration, a period from the 1916 to the 1970s when over 6 million Black Americans fled the Jim Crow and KKK run south for cities in the North, Midwest and West. With factories facing industrial labor shortages from World War 1, recruiters for these companies advertised a new life to Black Americans, encouraging them to travel north. However when they arrived, conditions in factories and other industrial industries had dangerous working conditions, and inequitable opportunities across gender lines. Knowing Smoke and Stack were in Chicago, and had returned to the south post the Chicago Race Riots, Al Capone, the great depression and also post World War 1, the film gives us many jumping off points, and a lot of historical backdrop for their experiences.
The Syllabus continues to cover African Americans in the Military during World War 1. Which is a nod to Smoke’s experiences in the War, which is only subtly mentioned in the film, and shown through Smoke’s shaking hands from PTSD. The Syllabus mentions many books like We Return Fighting: WWI and the Shaping of Modern Black Identity edited by Kinshasha Holman Conwill. Highlighting the fact that despite fighting in and being damaged by the war, fighting for a country that does not love them, and having to return to racism and inequality after the war. Next they cover gender dynamics and social structures and the things Black women had to deal with in the South, through books like At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance by Danielle L. McGuire. The syllabus also covers resistance and Early Civil rights Activism, and Black Horror and Vampire Lore.
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