Posts Tagged ‘Civil War’
Alabama spends more than a half-million dollars a year on a Confederate memorial. Black historical sites struggle to keep their doors open.
By Emmanuel Felton, The Washington Post MOUNTAIN CREEK, Ala. — Down a country road, past a collection of ramshackle mobile homes, sits a 102-acre “shrine to the honor of Alabama’s citizens of the Confederacy.” The state’s Confederate Memorial Park is a sprawling complex, home to a small museum and two well-manicured cemeteries with neat rows…
Read More‘Waking up to racism’: New documentary tells truth about Confederacy, tracks root of ‘Lost Cause’ myth
Comedian CJ Hunt’s debut feature documentary, The Neutral Ground, not only exposes why Southerners cling to Confederate iconography but also challenges the “Lost Cause” mythology – a romanticized, and false, version of Southern history in which the Confederacy and its leaders were fighting for “states’ rights” and defending their region against Northern aggression.
“While the Confederacy was not successful at winning wars, it was incredibly successful when it came to creating a myth,” Hunt, 36, told the Southern Poverty Law Center. “When people want to say the Confederacy was not about slavery, those claims are not grounded in facts or supported by the Confederacy’s own founding documents.”
Read MoreI’m happy Juneteenth is a Federal holiday–but don’t let it be whitewashed
An Op-Ed: We should be happy to popularize and celebrate Juneteenth. But we should celebrate it with the same fervor in which it was celebrated the summer of 2020, with protests, political education, and an understanding that the house of the slavemaster still stands, despite a fresh coat of paint. We must celebrate Juneteenth knowing the kind of force it took for enslaved Black people to attain emancipation – and the equivalent political force it may take to finally and absolutely uproot the American capitalist. Wisconsin celebrated it 50th Juneteenth in 2021 with a long parade up Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, complete with Civil War re-enactors, beauty queens and kings, and Black public servants, among them County Executive David Crowley and Congresswoman Gwen Moore. This city was one of the first in the nation to celebrate the holiday.
Read MoreLearning from the Failure of Reconstruction
The riot at the Capitol was reminiscent of the overthrow of Reconstruction, which was accomplished by violent assaults on elected officials. Dr. Eric Foner, an expert on the Reconstruction era, shares his analysis.
Read MoreHow African Americans Changed the Meaning of the Civil War
Actions by Black folk changed the meaning of the Civil War, turning it from a war to preserve a white government into a war to destroy the institution of slavery.
Read MoreThe Lost Promise of Reconstruction
Eric Foner draws parallels between our tense political climate and the end of the Reconstruction Age, overviewing the backward steps our country has taken as we move further from the promises of Reconstruction.
Read MoreIt’s Juneteenth, and a White Nationalist Is President
With the South rising again on the watch of President Donald Trump, who plans to turn the Fourth of July this year from a celebration of America to a celebration of himself, it’s time for Americans who champion equality to begin celebrating Juneteenth.June 19, 1865 — “Juneteenth” being a combination of June and nineteenth — should remind all Americans of the long and complex fight required to end slavery here.
Read MoreRacial Terror and the Second Repeal of Reconstruction
In the age of Trump white nationalism, hate crimes and acts of domestic terrorism have escalated. Recent acts of violence mirror the years following Reconstruction that resulted in American Descendants of Slavery losing all rights and privileges gained after the Civil War and the imposition of Jim Crow Laws.
Read MoreCan the legacy of trauma be passed down the generations?
Recent research shows that experiences of hardship and violence” leave their mark on the body, especially that of the male offspring. What ramifications does this increased violence, especially against black males , have for future generations of black children?
Read MoreHow Black Citizenship Was Won, and Lost
In this week’s New York Times Race/Related section, Jennifer Schuessler brings word of a New-York Historical Society exhibit shedding new light on the lives of African-Americans during the Reconstruction era. From covering the legal and political battles that were fought the nation over to showcasing artifacts of the smaller, day-to-day, personal battles of individuals African-Americans and their families, this exhibit helps to remind today’s divided America not only of just how dangerous such division can become, but just how important the fight for truth, justice, and equality really is.
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