{"id":1777,"date":"2025-07-31T14:00:22","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T14:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/?p=1777"},"modified":"2025-07-31T14:58:42","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T14:58:42","slug":"washington-black-proves-that-black-stories-dont-always-have-to-be-about-trauma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/31\/washington-black-proves-that-black-stories-dont-always-have-to-be-about-trauma\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington Black Proves That Black Stories Don\u2019t Always Have To Be About Trauma"},"content":{"rendered":"

While there are so many noteworthy stories in film and television that portray Black history realistically \u2014 with all its pain, trauma, and suffering \u2014 Hulu\u2019s newest show Washington Black<\/a><\/em> (based on the novel of the same name) dares to show another side of the coin. While Washington Black<\/em> recognizes the importance of telling Black stories rooted in trauma and resilience so that we never forget, its true message is that there\u2019s also an equal need for historical Black stories filled with joy, hope, and adventure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Delving into the rich history of African settlement in North America, the show weaves a colorful tapestry of how Black culture flourished in Nova Scotia, Canada due to it being the last stop on the Underground Railroad in the late 1800s. The Underground Railroad was the largest anti-slavery movement in America, ferrying thousands of Black fugitives to northern states and Canada so that they could find freedom and build a new life. Washington Black<\/em> tells the story of what came after. The series recognizes the pain of the time, but it also tells the tale of a hopeful, intelligent, and adventurous young Black man starting a new chapter \u2014 one of possibility and uncharted lands.<\/p>\n

Even today, it\u2019s rare to see a show like this featuring a predominantly Black cast. Starring Ernest Kingsley Jr. as the titular character of Washington (\u201cWash\u201d) Black and Sterling K. Brown (executive producer, Academy Award nominee, three-time Emmy winner and newly minted nominee), it takes you alongside Wash\u2019s journey as he dares to imagine a future for himself free of the limitations placed upon him by society. At its heart, it\u2019s an epic, coming-of-age period piece that creator, showrunner, and executive producer Selwyn Seyfu Hinds, executive producer and showrunner Kimberly Ann Harrison, Kingsley Jr., and Brown discussed further on a Refinery29 x Hulu panel at the show\u2019s recent screening event in Los Angeles on July 22. Keep reading for three main takeaways from the panel \u2014 and watch Washington Black<\/em>, now streaming on Hulu.<\/p>\n

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1. Black stories should celebrate joy as well <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Sharing stories is a powerful way to heal and Washington Black<\/em> feels like a breath of fresh air. It recognizes the toll slavery took, while underscoring the breadth of resilience. In the show, Wash was born on a sugar plantation farm in Barbados, but he leaves his past behind to pursue a path of science and invention. \u201cYou have a young man who can see the beauty in things that seem broken to other people,\u201d Kingsley Jr. said. \u201cHe can see the potential, the possibility, and the wonder. It\u2019s imbued with so much heart that the team put into it and it was a no brainer [to be part of it].\u201d<\/p>\n

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Wash meets life-changing characters along his journey that change the trajectory of his life. As the viewer, you\u2019re able to witness the key stages of his life as he grows into someone enthusiastic about a path that he\u2019d never dreamed of. \u201cBlack folks deserve whimsy, too,\u201d said Brown. \u201cThe idea that all of our stories in American fiction have to focus on trauma or pain is not the only thing that we have to tell. We can come from painful circumstances, but we can transcend those circumstances through the power of imagination, the power of hope, and the power of our joy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

This was a unique project for the creators \u2014 a story they were excited to tell because it shined a light on the other side of Black history. \u201cReading and seeing this epic adventure, I\u2019d never seen anything through the lens of a young Black boy in this type of scope,\u201d Harrison added. \u201cThat was amazing to me. I look at my own boys and it\u2019s something that I can sit down and watch with them. We can dream, discuss, and identify [with the characters]. This opens the door to have discussions.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. The themes in Washington Black<\/em> are universal<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In the show, Medwin Harris (played by Brown) says, \u201cThe only way Black folks can climb this mountain is if we pull each other along.\u201d Although the series takes place in the past, that statement still rings true more than ever today. According to Hinds, the project was also born from a deep personal connection to the source material. \u201cI got into the book because I saw my story in Wash,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m from the Caribbean and on both sides of my family, we\u2019ve actually traced our roots back to Barbados where the character is from\u2026Between the ages of 14 and 19, I had my own odyssey of different ecosystems and different characters. There was something about Wash\u2019s journey that felt really personal. And as any writer knows, you tell a universal story once you find your specific way in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Growing up, Hinds was drawn to books that were transportive,\u00a0 always featuring a voyage of epic proportions. Because of the universal themes explored during Wash\u2019s adventures \u2014 resilience, resistance, hope \u2014 the show serves as something of an outlet for the Black community, one that can be related to by all.\u00a0<\/p>\n

3. Black history reminds us that we\u2019re all connected<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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At a time when Black history is being questioned and banned, it\u2019s more important than ever that projects like this exist. Telling Black stories through film and television creates an opportunity for art, but it also powerfully cements our history in a way that can\u2019t be erased. \u201cOne of my favorite lines in the show is when Wash says, \u2018I\u2019m free, you can\u2019t take it, even if you kill me,\u2019 and that is the truth,\u201d said Hinds. \u201cThat line is about one word, and that\u2019s resistance. The show by its existence is an act of resistance and it\u2019s an act of history. It\u2019s a line in the sand that can\u2019t be erased. It\u2019s a manifestation of a particular desire that we all had as creators, so in and of itself, it creates history. The fact that a show like that was made by people like this is history. It says we were here, we did that, and they can\u2019t take it away.\u201d<\/p>\n

The show was filmed in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Brown noted that the dialect of the Afro Nova Scotian community was almost identical to Gullah culture, a group descended from enslaved Africans in South Carolina, thus proving the undeniable connection that the Underground Railroad produced. It created a space for Black people to flourish and be free, and keeping this connection alive is what drew Brown to the project. <\/p>\n

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\u201cThe idea that you have to erase us in order to appease other people just seems sort of strange and backwards,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThere\u2019s been this separation of, \u2018We\u2019re not like them, they\u2019re not like us.\u2019 But what I\u2019m legitimately hopeful for is that we start to see the ties that bind, the things that make us common, [and] the things that we share with one another. As a spiritual being, I believe that we are all one\u2026I wanted to show where folks from the islands, folks from the states, and folks from across the pond are able to come together and find solace and peace with one another through connection.\u201d<\/p>\n

While many of us might not be familiar with these deeper aspects of Black history, the show sets up opportunities for education \u2014 an invitation to dive deeper into the connections that have allowed Black culture to flourish today.<\/p>\n

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Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While there are so many noteworthy stories in film and television that portray Black history realistically \u2014 with all its pain, trauma, and suffering \u2014 Hulu\u2019s newest show Washington Black (based on the novel of the same name) dares to show another side of the coin. While Washington Black recognizes the importance of telling Black…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1777"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1784,"href":"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1777\/revisions\/1784"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}