He said bloodshed was a last resort for Brown, but he deemed it necessary since his contemporaries would neither listen to reason nor stand against slavery. “This is a person who really loved people, loved them body and soul, who believed in people, white people and Black people,” said Hawke.Īccording to Hawke, Brown was a progressive thinker who also supported the liberation of Indigenous peoples and women. “It’s incredibly sad, really,” said Hawke, who spent countless hours researching the life and times of Brown to prepare for the part. Many have asked Hawke, who plays Brown in the television series, what his character, if he were alive today, would think of the video of George Floyd dying in police custody or the marches associated with the Black Lives Matter movement. “So, how have we not gotten farther than when he died in 1859?” “This story is just as relevant today as it was when John Brown, the real person, was fighting for the freedom of Black people,” Kinloch added. It brings to light struggle, the need to think deeply about abolitionism, the need to say ‘take a stand for something because we’re all going to hell if we’re not going to stand for something.for other people and with other people.”

It brings to light issues of race and racism. The discussion also connected historical abolitionists and abolitionism to present-day efforts for racial equality, justice, freedom, and liberation for Black people.Īccording to Kinloch, “It brings to light things that some folks think are no longer relevant today. Their hour-long discussion centered on the novel’s characters, character development, and major themes, and anti-slavery efforts in Antebellum America. NCTE President-Elect Valerie Kinloch, the Renée and Richard Goldman Dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Education, moderated the discussion with the show’s creator, lead actor, and executive producer Ethan Hawke and with the novel’s author and fellow show executive producer James McBride. It is told through the perspective of the protagonist, Onion, a newly freed Black youth. True to McBride’s novel, the adaptation tells a story about abolitionist-crusader John Brown and his historic raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859. The series, which premiered on Showtime on Sunday, Octoto positive reviews from critics, is an adaptation of the novel “The Good Lord Bird” by author James McBride, which received the 2013 National Book Award for Fiction. The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) recently sponsored an online conversation about the book-to-film adaptation process that centered on the release of the new Showtime® limited series, “The Good Lord Bird.” Many have been memorable experiences that brought the characters and stories vividly to life.

Over the years, Hollywood has adapted many books into movies and TV shows.

The good lord bird book