THE FREE STATE OF JONES

FILM RECOMMENDATIONS: THE FREE STATE OF JONES

Plot

 The story is based on the history of Jones County, Mississippi during the Civil War and the immediately following period. Although the plot of the movie is fiction, the overall story follows the history of Jones County, and many of the events portrayed are true.The film is credited as "based on the books The Free State of Jones by Victoria E. Bynum and The State of Jones by Sally Jenkins and John Stauffer".
After surviving the 1862 Battle of Corinth, Newton Knight, a poor farmer from Jones County serving as a battlefield medic in the Confederate Army, deserts and returns home to his farm and his wife, Serena. While there, he befriends Rachel, a slave woman who has secretly learned to read.
Newton's disenchantment with the Confederacy grows after learning that troops are seizing crops and livestock for taxes. After helping one family resist such a raid, he is bitten by a slave-catching dog. With the help of abolitionist Aunt Sally and several slaves, he escapes to a swamp where several runaway slaves led by Moses Washington tend to his wounds.
After the Siege of Vicksburg, Confederate desertions increase considerably, and many of them find their way to the swamp. Newton organizes the deserters and runaway slaves into a militia, and leads an armed rebellion against the Confederacy. They succeed in capturing a large slice of south-east Mississippi, organizing it as the "Free State of Jones". Although they get little help from the Union, they manage to hold out until the end of the war.
Newton continues to fight against racial inequality after the war, helping to free Moses' son from an "apprenticeship" to Rachel's former master and registering freedmen to vote. He and Rachel have a son, Jason. Since they are unable to marry, Newton arranges to deed a parcel of land to her.
The story is interspersed with the saga of Newton's great-great-great grandson, who is arrested under Mississippi's miscegenation laws 85 years after the war. Since he is of one-eighth black descent, under Mississippi law of the day he is considered black, and therefore cannot legally marry his long-time sweetheart. He is sentenced to five years in prison, but his conviction is thrown out by the Mississippi Supreme Court rather than risk the law being declared unconstitutional.

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU LOOK AT ME?

Watch this video and answer the following questions: 
1. Why does she say muslims can be defined as an airport security-line delay?
2. What happened to her when she was 17?
3. How can she consider that being a muslim is a feminist declaration of independence? 
4. Why are September 11th attacks so significant to her community? what was she doing when this happened? Ask your parents... do they remember? 
5. What turned her from a citizen to a suspect? 
6. What metaphor does she use to explain the role of muslims in American society? 
7. Where and how do people usually get radicalized? 
8. What does she compare ISIS to?
9. What happens when we are afraid? 
10. What happened at the mosque when she went after September 11th attacks? 
*WRITE YOUR OPINION ABOUT THIS TALK

TAKE A SEAT & MAKE A FRIEND

One ball pit, two people, one city. Take a seat and make a friend.

In the middle of a city square sits a giant tub of colorful balls and above it hangs a sign that says, “Take a Seat & Make a Friend“. Two strangers climb in and talk about life questions, some funny, some serious.

What starts out as what may seem like a weird social experiment turns into the sharing of life stories, laughter, hugs, and even a secret handshake or two. I think that if we could stop long enough to just sit and listen to each other for a while,  we’d all be a lot better off.

ISN'T SEPTEMBER THE HARDEST MONTH OF THE YEAR?

What is the word that best defines this month for you?