It honestly scares me how many people blithely agree that somehow Glory &/or Dances With Wolves are homages to white supremacy.

I admit, I haven't seen The Patriot even though I like Mel Gibson in spite of his atrocious views & habits.

Okay first, why Matthew Broderick over Denzel?

The historic Shaw was in his early twenties, & in photos looks a lot like Broderick. People, in fact, say Glory is one of the most historically accurate Civil War films. How do you tell the story of the 54th Mass w/o Shaw? He led it from the beginning. He might have sat out the war doing garrison duty, but risked insubordination getting his unit into combat so they could prove themselves. Many Union generals (e.g. Sherman, Meade) doubted the ability of black soldiers. Shaw helped to prove them wrong. In so doing he gave his life.

Of course he's a major character.

The whipping scene? Agonizing. Who cares what a Trump, etc. would have felt? I recall once, a critic insisting The Sound of Music was a bad movie because while putatively anti-Nazi it's just the kind of film Nazis liked. Personally I think SOM is a stupid film, but not for that reason. I don't let Nazis, or Trump, determine my esthetic choices.

Furthermore, Washington's character, Trip, deserted. He might have been shot; many white soldiers, some of them kids, were. So while it was intentionally painful to watch, but I can't see a problem with it happening in that particular context.

Glory introduced general audiences to the 54th Mass. It would have wrong to exclude its white officers from the story. But now that people are (more) aware maybe the time is come to do more films/series focusing on individual members.

Dances With Wolves?

MEH.

It's three hours long & doesn't teach anything (perhaps aside from the fact there's a larger pool of first-rate Native/Indian talent than most people realized at the time).

Dunbar finding the bison was just a narrative tool to give his character an in with the People (who were, I believe, Sioux, not Cherokee). Prior to that he was regarded, quite understandably, with suspicion & hostility. You do notice that aside from the two who adopt the ways of the People, all other whites depicted as neurotic, venal, cruel or just stupid, right? Hardly a vehicle of white supremacy. Still, it's just a good piece of light entertainment. I don't see what it's supposed to teach.

I'm glad you're putting your daughter's school circumstance above activism, but instead of assuming, why not just ask the teacher what s/he intends the kids to take from these films? What are they trying teach here?

Because to me it seems as though they're looking for an extra long smoke break....