plantation, Nightjohn is a movie that depicts the lives of African American slaves in the antebellum South. Literacy plays an important part in the struggle for power between the slaves and their masters. The idea of keeping slaves illiterate was a tool for white Southerners to keep the slaves subordinate. Without the ability to read, slaves were often tricked into doing things that they did not want to do. They weren't able to read the laws or deeds that affected their future and resulted in them becoming slaves. After the civil war had ended, there was a problem pertaining to what to do for the African American people. With slavery's stabilizing influence gone, the Freedmen's Bureau was created to remedy the situation. It proposed that they should educate the former slaves and advance the reconciliation between the North and the South. They also hoped that it would create a lasting peace and order between the different races. The bureau also sought to create schoolhouses in order to regain the stability lost by the end of slavery. See also List of films featuring slavery References External links 1996 television films 1996 films 1996 drama films Disney Channel original films American drama television films 1990s English-language films Films about American slavery Films based on American novels Films directed by Charles Burnett (director) Films scored by Stephen James Taylor Films shot in South Carolina South Carolina in fiction Cinema of South Carolina South Carolina Sonar Entertainment films Television films based on books 1990s American films