Julieann Yee

Mid-Term Essay
Free State of Jones 2016
I analyzed the film Free State of Jones directed by Gary Ross. Its based on a true story
about Newton Knight who rebelled against the confederates during the Civil War. I previewed
the trailer before watching the film, and as the music heightens the intensity level of the preview
you already know without previous knowledge of who Newton Knight was that this films
content is going to portray racism. What other details or topics did the director put in this movie
that not everyone may have noticed? I am going to explain this film from the perspective of
representation of race, gender and class in American cinema.
The movie starts off with Newt at battle. Later that night his young nephew finds him at
camp and explains how he was drafted into the war. The next day while theyre at battle his
nephew is shot and killed. Newt leaves the frontline and takes his nephew back home for a
proper burial. By doing this hes become a wanted man and is labeled a deserter. To hide from
law enforcement Newt is taken to a swamp to hide out with runaway slaves. He befriends many
of the slaves and starts to build a rebellion with them and other deserters against the
Confederates. He becomes romantically involved with an African American woman named,
Rachel, and they conceive a child together named, Jason. Newt does have another son that was
born before Jason with a woman named, Serena who is Caucasian. Later in the film Serena
shows up to Newt and Rachels home and asks if they can stay because they have nowhere to go.
Newt welcomes them into their home and they all live together. The war ends, and Newt
continues to fight for equality.

Throughout the film there are clips that fast forward to the future 85 years after the war. A
decedent of Newts, Davis Knight is on trial for miscegenation during the time Jim Crow laws
were in place. The character that you see on trial looks as though he is 100% Caucasian, and the
plaintiff is trying to prove that he is 1/8th African American which would make it illegal for him
to marry his Caucasian wife. The evidence that theyre trying to use to prove that Davis has
African American heritage is that Rachel is his great great great grandmother, and because of the
timing Serena was not living with Newt and Rachel, so he couldnt be her grandson, which
would have made him 100% Caucasian. I feel like this scene represented race. It demonstrates
that the African Americans and their descendants are the minority group even after the Civil War.
It wasnt until nineteen years after this case that the U.S. Supreme Court declared state laws
against interracial marriage to be unconstitutional. In an article that I read it said that many
people found it easier to forgive Newt for fighting Confederates than mixing blood (Miller).
Weve come a long way on how African Americans are represented in American film, but
still today you can depict some of the stereotyped images. The Uncle Tom character in this film
to me was, George. He was the person who took Newton into the swamp. You dont see him very
often throughout the film, but when you do hes an obedient slave thats courteous and follows
orders. The Mammy was Rachel. Before Newton and her started their romantic relationship, it
shows her place on the plantation. She was a houseslave who people respected, and was trying to
learn how to read. Theres a scene in the beginning of the movie where Newtons son which he
had with Serena gets very ill. Since he was a deserter he couldnt fetch a doctor, so he reached
out to a friend and she said that she would send, Rachel. You also see the black and white buddy
formula with the friendship that builds between Newt and Moses. You can feel the intensity of
their friendship when Moses is lynched. Newt slowly walks over to him, and at first the camera

is focused on Newts face, but you can see Moses from the calves down swaying. As you see the
sorrow build in Newts eyes the camera zooms out to show Mosess full body hanging from the
tree.
I feel that there is a lot of representation of class within the film. Newt mentions that he
doesnt own any slaves, and doesnt want to fight a war to make it so the rich can stay rich. In
one of the first scenes Newton is talking to one of his comrades and asks where the Carolina 3rd
soldiers are going. He advises him that theyre going home because of the 20 Negroes Law
formally known as the New Conscription Act. If you owned 20 slaves or more, you no longer
had to fight in the war. Usually lower class people couldnt afford to have slaves, so who does
this law favor, the upper class. I noticed the repressive state apparatus many times throughout the
movie. Mostly when the confederates were trying to enforce the Tax Act. The lower-class people
were stripped of their belongings because they didnt have the money to pay, and were left with
nothing for themselves. In the film, it focuses on the woman that were left alone while their
husbands were at war, and they were portrayed as helpless as the soldiers were taking what they
wanted from their homes.
The women being portrayed as helpless represents gender. Theres a scene where one of
the woman is told that she needs to gather all the blankets and baskets from the house and put all
the hogs in a pen, and the tax agent would return within an hour to get them. Newt comes to
help the damsel in distress, and saves the day. He teaches her three daughters how to shoot a gun
and when the soldiers return, all five of them are ready for a standoff. At first the tax agent
laughs at the thought of the females shooting them, but once he hears the little girl cock the gun
he becomes more hesitant to proceed moving forward. The gender roles for the males was to be
masculine because they were going to war, and being drafted. I feel like this also ties back with

class because they were not wealthy and just farmers. They were being sent to the battle field
to fight a rich mans war.
I feel like Newton Knights character deals with race, gender and class on numerous
occasions throughout the film, but it always comes down to him being the white male
protagonists. Hes drafted to war because hes a lower-class male, but is viewed as a hero when
he starts the rebellion. Some of his actions during the movie would have received lesser
consequences because he is a white male. For example, when Mosess son is taken back to the
plantation because of apprenticeship. Moses has the intention of going to kill them. Newton
chases after him and tries to talk sense into Moses and repeatedly states Theyll arrest me,
theyll kill you. Newt later purchases Mosess son from his plantation owner and saves the day.
This film is based on a book called The Free State of Jones, Movie Edition: Mississippis
Longest Civil War and Newton is described as the hero for taking in Rachel, Newt welcomes
Rachel Knight and her children into the fold of his own family, thereby serving masculine honor
from the prerogatives (and responsibilities) of whiteness. An act more shocking to his neighbors
than his rebellions against the confederacy (Bynum).
I have now explained through multiples examples how race, class and gender are
portrayed within this film. I enjoyed watching this movie, but felt that the ending should have
come to a better closure. I ended up Googling more information on Newton Knight to help fill in
some of the questions I had about the story. Overall I think its a great film and would
recommend others to watch.

Bibliography
Bynum V. The Free State Of Jones, Movie Edition : Mississippi's Longest Civil War [e-book].
Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press; 2016. Available from: eBook
Community College Collection (EBSCOhost), Ipswich, MA. Accessed October 26, 2016.
Miller M. Free State of Jones: The Incredible True Story of Newton Knight and His Private
Rebellion Against the Confederacy. People.Com [serial online]. June 27, 2016;:471.
Available from: MasterFILE Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed October 27, 2016.