Sankofa

Sankofa produced and directed by Haile Gerima, uses identity formation in the struggle to fight slavery and to learn about cultural roots in order to understand the people we are today. The film focuses on Mona, a contemporary model who is sent back to the time of slaver to learn an value her African roots. When she is sent back in time by a drummer named Sankofa, Mona becomes Shola, a house slave who faces harsh physical abuse by her white master.  Shola struggles with identity formation because she does not accept her cultural roots because she never had to live in a time in which black folks were forced to live in fear of the with man. It is only when she becomes a slave that she is able to gain appreciation for her African roots. Carson writes that  during the first half of the eighteenth century, one-quarter of slaves died due to inadequate nutrition, repertory diseases, and of overwork (Carson, 75). Slaves were exploited, even when a large number of them were dying due to hard labor, salve owners continued to punish them for taking rests of eating during work hours. When Shola is faced with this situation in the sugar cane plantation, and when she first tried to escape; she feels shameful of who she is. She even tried to deny that she was African by yelling “I’m not African, I’m American!” (Sankofa). As the film continues, Shola becomes more culturally involved with her roots by learning from her elders, such as Nunu, an African born slave. She also learns from Shango, a runaway who motivates her to fight for her freedom, even though masters did anything they could to discourage slaves from running away. They would punish runaways by chopping off their toes, chaining them with iron collars, and even punishing the families of the runaways (Carson, 83). Even so, Shola did not lose her hopes in become a free woman. When she is finally sent back to present time, her thinking has completely changed. Shola. now Mona is able to feel proud of her identity, and proud of her African roots because she now understands the difficulties slaves had to live in to gain freedom for generations to come.