13TH: From Slave to Criminal with One Amendment
PRESENTED BY: Meaningful Movies Port Townsend
The title of Ava DuVernay’s extraordinary and galvanizing documentary 13TH refers to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which reads “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.”
The progression from that second qualifying clause to the horrors of mass criminalization and the sprawling American prison industry is laid out by DuVernay with bracing lucidity. With a potent mixture of archival footage and testimony from a dazzling array of activists, politicians, historians, and formerly incarcerated women and men, DuVernay creates a work of grand historical synthesis.
Sponsors: Meaningful Movies Port Townsend, QUUF Green Sanctuary Environmental Action Committee, and QUUF Social and Environmental Justice Council
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/2095919333804783/
Release Year: 2016
Running Time: 100 minutes
Director: Ava DuVernay
3 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationWill this be shown again? Sadly, I did not learn about how the 13th Amendment created slave labor after the Civil War until seeing August Wilson’s play, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, a couple of years ago. I would like to see this documentary.
“13th” can be viewed on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krfcq5pF8u8&feature=youtu.be. Also, if you have a Netflix account, here: https://www.netflix.com/watch/80091741?trackId=13752289&tctx=0%2C0%2C38f69371930cfe32d88437e2257c5a51fc2f0213%3Ac507884d4f2e5dd0146c33d75a7ebe629dfa07b5%2C38f69371930cfe32d88437e2257c5a51fc2f0213%3Ac507884d4f2e5dd0146c33d75a7ebe629dfa07b5%2C%2C.
Thanks so much for posting this comment, Diane Turner, giving us all links to watch this incredibly important film – in my case again – and to share it so others also have a chance to easily view it. The first time I saw “13th” was at an Issaquah Meaningful Movies screening. It blew my mind, and it spawned me to get involved with our Mt Baker MM venue, to promote this important work.