I, Too. Directed by Carol Anderson and Tom Glynn. Video Project, 2022. 63 minutes.

Stamped from the Beginning. Directed by Roger Ross Williams. Netflix, 2023. 91 minutes.

            Both Stamped from the Beginning and I, Too open provocatively. The former invites viewers to be shocked by an inane question, “What is wrong with Black people?” and the latter encourages contemplation of the January 6, 2021, insurrection in relation to violence against African Americans. Throughout the films, viewers discern answers to each narrative entry point, exploring the propagation of fictitious myths about Blacks as propelled by racism and white supremacy and the suppression of history. The films overlap in their indictment of white supremacy. It’s a backdrop to foregrounding narrative topoi in Stamped, and it’s an ideological political weapon informing the violence highlighted in I, Too.

Following their introductions, the organization and composition of the films unfold differently. A topical orientation structures Stamped. It opens with a section titled “The Invention of Blackness” and progresses through whiteness, assimilation, Black hypersexuality, the white savior trope, and Black criminality toward a culminating vision of an antiracist society. Except for the last topic, the others are crafted as “myths” underscoring the documentary’s contention that “Black inferiority” is by design. The visuality of Stamped is stunningly executed to complement the organizational structure, illustrate its content, and keep viewers captivated. An example is the colorful illustration of Phillis Wheatley displayed as viewers see her poetry and hear it read aloud. Simultaneously, viewers learn of prominent white Bostonians who questioned the authorship of her poems due to their disbelief in Black women’s intellect. The camera pans to the faces of Black women commentators in the documentary, whose solemn faces, head nods, and wrenched hands serve as visual cues of their familiarity with treatment similar to that of Wheatley. The analogy culminates in the film’s return to white Bostonians’ interrogation of Wheatley which is spliced with visual images of Anita Hill and Ketanji Brown Jackson, both of whom were subjected to white politicians’ scrutiny of their intellect and integrity. This scene bridges past and present forms of racial-gendered scrutiny to poignantly underscore the “Phillis Wheatley moment” (28:20) that Black women experience.

In contrast, I, Too foregrounds case studies of politically motivated violence against Black communities. That narrative structure serves two purposes. First, it historicizes how viewers could interpret the insurrection of January 6, 2021, and other events showcased in the documentary through parallel conditions such as racialized fears, white supremacy, and struggles over voting rights. Second, the film’s presentation of case studies—Wilmington, NC in 1898, Hamburg, SC in 1876, and Ocoee, FL in 1919—advances a metaphor of traveling and movement. Viewers travel back in time and to distinct locations to learn of lesser-known sites of racial and gendered violence and view the director Carol Anderson, herself, walking, driving, and teaching, which advances the narrative by suggesting a connection to the adage “the personal is political.” Other scenes—such as flowing river images or Blacks’ exodus from Hamburg or Anderson’s parents’ decision to migrate for educational advancement and familial uplift—stress that Blacks’ movement can be and has been impeded through structural racism, but it cannot be stopped, as manifested in examples of Black uplift and resilience presented.

Inherent in my foci are topics for further exploration in the feminist classroom. Black women’s voices could be pursued by discussing the implications of centering Black women as narrators, commentators, and directors in the films. Relatedly, assigning original works by any of the Black women centered in the film (e.g., Harriet Jacobs or Amanda Gorman) alongside contemporary Black feminists-activists-poets could yield a robust conversation about voice, feminisms, forms of racial-gendered violence, or resistance. Next, the case study of Ocoee, FL, in I, Too provides entry to discussing enfranchisement and its consequential nature for African Americans’ mobility in light of present-day and past efforts to restrict and suppress their voting rights. The racial, gendered, and classed dimensions that suffuse Blacks’ and women’s suffrage are especially relevant to the conversation of dis/enfranchisement, which could be extended to voting identification laws contemporarily. A third topic worthy of exploration is racial terrorism (e.g., lynching) and “visions of America/Amerikkka” (Holling and Moon 2021, 435). To facilitate such a conversation, begin with the work of Ida B. Wells-Barnett and the massacres presented in the films then proceed to the important work of the Equal Justice Initiative supplemented with excerpts from some of the cited and suggested readings. To be sure, conversations on the topic of racial terrorism can be difficult and emotionally fraught for members in a course. Therefore, instructors might consider where and when within a semester to explore the topic as well as what necessities would be beneficial for class members (e.g., resources to support students or conversation ground rules). In closing, adopting either or both films in a feminist classroom holds the potential to spark robust conversations that begin, first and foremost, by centering the treatment and experiences of Blacks in the United States.

Michelle A. Holling, PhD, is professor emeritus of rhetoric in the Department of Communication and Media Studies at California State University San Marcos. Her most recent research studies the rhetorical facets of place-based grassroots coalitions and memory building. Prior scholarship analyzes the intersections of race, gender, and violences in public discourse, social and political issues affecting Chicana/os-Latina/os, feminicide testimonio, and intersectional microaggressions in the academy. With Dreama Moon, she co-edited Race(ing) Intercultural Communication (Routledge), and with Bernadette Calafell, she co-edited Latina/o Discourse in Vernacular Spaces: Somos de Una Voz? (Lexington Press). She invites conversation on the films reviewed and/or shared research interests at mholling@csusm.edu.