Rather Die Free Than Live a Slave

During the American Civil War, southern slaves joined the Union armies in huge numbers, both helping the North to victory and creating an American social revolution that created the black America we know today. Rather die free, looks deeper into two battles in Mississippi, between a slave trader/Confederate General and former slaves. It talks about women such as Harriet Tubman, who was a spy and even led troops into battle. It looks at the creation of the United States Colored Troops in 1863, in which more than 180,000 men served in the Union army. After the war, the memory of the US Colored troops was deliberately erased, and the film looks at this as well. Under slavery it was illegal for black men and women to get education. Many of these soldiers learned to read for the first time while serving in the army. After the war they became leaders of the new black communities that were created by the former slaves. And it takes a bigger look at the black men and women, who risked all, to be free.