This picture shows African American Union soldiers, who do not have uniforms, or even proper clothing to fight in. They were not given the same benefits as other soldiers fighting for the Union Army.
Before World War II, many Jews in Europe were very well-to-do, have professions such as doctors and scholars. However, during the Holocaust, they were reduced to jobs of manual labor in the concentration camps.
For the picture above and below, African Americans in the United States were still prejudiced against after the Civil War, and denied jobs and other rights, such as property ownership after the Civil War. They were still forced to live in poverty because of racism.
Poverty is a global issue that has been addressed by world leaders for centuries. One can see it anywhere, in any country on any continent of the world. Poverty can inflict an entire country, or just a certain part of the population of a country. Along with being such a world problem, poverty is also a prevailing global theme in films. Everyone can relate to poverty, even if he or she has not personally experienced it, because it is everywhere. It is easy to play to people’s emotions and therefore draw them deeper into the film by having impoverished characters in movies. However, poverty cannot just be fixed by solving one problem; there are many roots to problem of poverty, from the economy to wars. One such cause of poverty is racism. People who have experienced racism can be held back from getting jobs, being served at businesses, and even going to school. If the government of a certain country decides they do not like a certain race, unfortunately, there is not much people belonging to that race can do about it. There are two big examples in history of this kind of racism-driven poverty, the Jews in the Holocaust, and the former slaves after the American Civil War. Films corresponding to these events are Schindler’s List and Glory; the directors of these respective films explored the fact that these groups of people were denied so much, strictly because of their race.
For the Jews in Europe in World War II, it was a tumultuous time in their lives. Would they be stripped of everything they owned, denied even some of the most basic human rights, and sent away to concentration camps strictly because of their race? Many were. Even those who were wealthy, owned their own businesses, and were upstanding citizens would find themselves standing on the street the next day, with nothing but the clothes on their backs (Maslin).
Schindler’s List demonstrates the change these people underwent, and how drastic that change was. The movie starts out with Polish Jews being moved from their homes to a ghetto in Krakow. Just because they were Jewish, these people had to leave their homes and their hometowns to live in run-down shanties in a poor, gross area no one else wanted to live in. This area is eventually turned into a concentration camp, where soldiers came through and murdered anyone who seemed to be uncooperative, elderly, sick, or for no reason at all. This happened all over Europe, not just in Poland. Schindler’s List used the extreme poverty of the Jews to even more heighten the heroics of Oskar Schindler in saving the Jews. He gave so many Jewish residents of the ghetto jobs in his factory, and said that they were “essential to the state.” By giving them jobs, even though they were not being paid, they were given food and shelter, so that they would be able to continue working (Maslin). The theme of poverty in this film is something that people of all ages and descents can relate to, not just Jews. It also demonstrates the fact that poverty because of racism is a real issue; by showing the horrible effects it has on people’s lives, it shocks people into not wanting to ever let it happen again. But without question, the poverty Jews are facing in Schindler’s List is stemmed from racism of the Nazi Party and other governments in Europe; there was no other way such a specific group of people could be targeted in such a negative way (“France may add Schindler’s List to civics curriculum).
Similarly, in the United States many African-Americans felt the sting of racism, which caused them to generally, as a people group, be found in extreme poverty. This most well known example of this racism was seen in the United States about between the inception of the country and the Civil War; most African-Americans living in America were slaves. They had food and shelter, but received no wages. Their clothes were generally ragged and their shelter was sometimes little more than four walls and a roof. This, however, depended more on if the slave worked in the house or in the fields, and also varied between owners. If any slaves were freed during this time period, they generally were captured and put back into slavery, and if they were not captured, it was almost impossible for them to find jobs. However, this problem did not disappear after the Civil War and the emancipation of the slaves; it became worse. Before the war while they were still enslaved, they were given food, clothing, and shelter, because if they were not given those necessities, they would not be able to work and the owners would lose money. After the Civil War, the former slaves had to completely provide for themselves in every way. Especially in the South, most of them still experienced racism; many of the former slave owners still felt that they were a superior people and that the African-Americans still should have been slaves. They were unable to get jobs, and because they were not provided with food, clothes, or shelter anymore, they had little to make do with (Fields 106).
This extreme racism is shown in the movie Glory. Glory tells the story of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, which was one of the first units of the United States Army to be made up of primarily African-Americans, besides the commanding officers. Even though the Infantry was on the Union side in the Civil War, the volunteers still felt the restrictions of racism. They were not given all of the same benefits as white soldiers in their same positions. One of the soldiers needs new shoes, and the quartermaster refuses to provide them with such supplies, so he leaves camp to find some new ones. He is caught, presumed a deserted, and subsequently whipped in front of the rest of the men. Also, the men did not even receive proper uniforms for a long time; they were serving the same country as their fellow white men and were not even permitted to wear the same uniform as them. The men also protested about the fact that they were to receive a lower monthly pay than their white counterparts. They were to receive three dollars less a month and have three dollars deducted for clothing, while the white soldiers were given a three dollar allotment for clothing as well as receiving a higher base salary to start with (Canby). They did the same work as a white regiment would do, but were punished monetarily for being a primarily African-American unit. Throughout the movie one can really see how, in comparison to a white regiment, this volunteer infantry really is poor. They are denied basic supplies such as shoes and socks, and can hardly afford to buy their own because of their reduced wages. The racism felt by African-Americans was definitely not just in the South; this regiment was still affected by discrimination even though whites and blacks both were fighting for the same cause: to free the slaves in the South. Only after showing amazing heroism by charging a fort manned by over one thousand Confederate soldiers and losing half their men was this unit able to garner any respect from the rest of the Union Army (Freeman).
In conclusion, poverty is seen anywhere in the world, in any time period, from Europe in the mid-1900’s to the United States ever since the 1700’s. Even though poverty can stem from many different roots, racism is definitely one of the leading causes, as explored in Schindler’s List and Glory. It is a commonly seen theme in movies, because one of the main purposes of films is to help people escape from their realities and enter another world. Many times, this world has to have realistic elements that one can relate to, so he or she can effectively imagine himself or herself somewhere else. Poverty is so common throughout the contemporary world that is easy to relate to, because it can be seen almost anywhere. The reasons for its existence vary by situation, but one of the main causes of it is racism. The racism that causes poverty however is generally very widespread, almost like a movement, and an official in leadership in the country or state must share those views in order for it to effectively put down a people group to the extent that they are left bereft of food, clothes, and other basic necessities. However, the attention that racism has received through the production of such films as Schindler’s List and Glory is the first step in correcting such a global problem.
-Marshall Anne Caswell
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