Daughters of the Dust story
Daughters of the Dust is a 1991 independent film written, directed and produced by Julie Dash and is the first feature film directed by an African- American woman distributed theatrically in the United States. Set in 1902, it tells the story of three generations of Gullah (also known as Geechee) women in the Peazant family on Saint Helena Island as they prepare to migrate to the North on the mainland.
11 total · 3 choice · 6 major · 2 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| family affairs | choice | the story featured many typical little problems within the Peazant family |
| life in Crow law era America | choice | The viewer is shown how some Black people lived on their former plantation island in 1902, Georgia, America. |
| slavery | choice | the main characters were relatively recently freed slaves or family thereof; the story gradually revealed something about the slave uprising and mass suicide at Igbo Landing; we heard many times about slave ships coming to America |
| coping with having been raped | major | Eula had been raped and worried Eli might not accept the unborn child as his |
| coping with time passing you by | major | Nana's old fashioned superstitions and wisdoms were not much appreciated by her granddaughters and Nana felt she would not fit in on the mainland |
| grandmother and granddaughter | major | Nana argued with various granddaughters about leaving the island |
| husband and wife | major | Eli and Eula |
| leaving one's old life behind | major | the whole family struggled with the decision to leave their poor lives on the island and move to the mainland |
| young character vs. old character | major | granddaughters vs. Nana |
| American Civil War | minor | the freeing of slaves some generations earlier was mentioned (older characters recalled being slaves) |