April is Confederate History Month...Apparently

[wolfgirl90]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/...n6371529.shtml
Yesterday, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell declared that April would be "Confederate History Month" in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Here is the original statement:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...040704411.html
This month is to "understand the sacrifices of the Confederate leaders, soldiers and citizens during the period of the Civil War."

Alright, since I was born and raised in Virginia (Richmond, Virginia mind you, former capital of the Confederacy), I can understand wanting to make sure that Virginians learned and understood the history of the Confederacy and Virginia's role in it. We have schools named after Civil War figures, numerous battlefields (there is a Civil War battlefield just down the street from where I live), statues lining the streets ("Monument Avenue" for one) and have Hollywood Cemetery, which is the resting place of not only 25 Confederate generals (more than any other state) but also Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America. I can understand wanting to make sure that Virginians knew about this.

However, during his original proclamation, Governor McDonnell failed to mention anything about slavery. Now granted, slavery was not the ONLY reason why the Civil War was fought, but its significance is so great that it cannot be ignored while learning about the Confederacy. Its nice to learn about the history, but we can't ignore the parts that we don't like for convenience, especially not something as significant to the history of the Civil War as slavery. Needless to say, his omitting of slavery upset many civil rights leaders and groups. This morning, Governor McDonnell apologized for omitting slavery.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...040705100.html

Being Black, I'll just say this: I was not offended by Governor McDonnell's proclamation of "Confederate History Month" (I am not offended by the sight of the Confederate flag, so I am not offended by this). As I said, I think its important that Virginians learn about the history of their state; I acknowledge that sacrifices were made for this state and for the Confederacy. However, at the same time I do not "honor" these sacrifices because at the end of the day, the Confederacy was group of rebels; traitors. And big reason that they rebelled was the one thing Governor McDonnell failed to recognize.

So, what do you think? Do you think this is good idea? A bad idea? Do you think that Governor McDonnell should have apologized for what he said (rather, for what he didn't say)?

[Skylar1]

Heard about this on the news the other day, talk about twisted logic.

"It was an important part of American history"; yeah, so what?

Hitler, the 3rd Reich, and nazi army was an important part of German history. But do you see many germans "commemorating" those people with a "Nazi history month"? OF COURSE NOT! Why? umm, because it was a horrible and evil part of human existance that has no other place than in the history books, just the the same as this.

[Forgotten Show]

Comparing the Confederate States of America to the Third Reich? Yeah, not even remotely close.

I hadn't heard about the omission of slavery, but good on Virginia for bringing light to a very important part of history for our country. There are a lot of lessons to be learned from that era.


Bad memory

[Cobra Commander]

I think that dragging Hitler into things like this is bad for credibility.

Overall, I don't care what the state of VA wants to do. Slavery should have been in there - though he did sneak it in after attention was called to its absence.

I think that people need to learn the whole story behind the confederacy and the civil war beyond what we're taught in our one sided textbooks. I was taught that it was entirely about slavery, as were a lot of people I know. Of course, that's not the case. Maybe this, or even the controversy of it, will generate an interest in learning the whole story. I think, in that respect, that it's a good thing.

In addition to slavery, they ought to make sure to mention and honor black soldiers who fought for the confederacy, and educate people as to why those men might have done so.

[Zedekiah]

Godwin's Law.

Thread back by popular demand.

Keep your noses clean or I'll clean 'em for you.

With sandpaper.

[wolfgirl90]

I think that people need to learn the whole story behind the confederacy and the civil war beyond what we're taught in our one sided textbooks. I was taught that it was entirely about slavery, as were a lot of people I know. Of course, that's not the case. Maybe this, or even the controversy of it, will generate an interest in learning the whole story. I think, in that respect, that it's a good thing.

I think so too. Here in Richmond, there are many parks that used to be battlefields (one that is quite close to me is Cold Harbor), but I do not think that the people who visit them, let alone live near them, know about what happened there since its not taught in school (its probably mentioned offhandedly).

In fact, since my real problem with the proclamation was that it was rather one-sided, I think that it would be better if we had a "Civil War" history month, rather than just a confederate one.

In addition to slavery, they ought to make sure to mention and honor black soldiers who fought for the confederacy, and educate people as to why those men might have done so.

That's a good point and something I hadn't thought of. Again, there is a monument for that in the city but I don't think many people have thought about it (which is unfortunate, given the large Black population in the city).

[deep blue]

I`m not sure if I should be embarrassed to say that my knowledge on American history is limited. I`m a history major, but it`s not like I`m from that country or chose to study it. All I can say is that if a province dedicated a month to commemorate the group that promoted and oversaw residential schools for First Nations or a month dedicated to the Orangeman Order, people would be pissed (except for the Canadians that dislike the French Canadians). While it`s true that it`s being rightfully recognized as a fact of history, exploring it by glorifying it is a bit different. History is meant to studied in a bias-free manner, and I promote that, but maybe commemorating a subject in history in a more general, unbias way might work, like dedicating the month to the study of the civil war in general - that way no one`s taking sides.

[Wio]

The thing is, slavery is boring and hack-kneeyed. There's no need to give more awareness to something which we pound into students' head in every history class they take. If the governor mentioned slavery, it'd be a pointless distraction. So many of us know how horrible the slave had it back in the south, and yet we have no idea how the free southern man had it in an agricultural society because, well, slavery is all that's high-lighted.

However, at the same time I do not "honor" these sacrifices because at the end of the day, the Confederacy was group of rebels; traitors.

Ummm, that's what all governments call a smaller faction that tries to gain its independence. It's what the UK used to call us and still would call us had we lost the war.

Consider this though...
The U.S. abolished slavery AFTER Britain did. Had we never gained independence from them, we would have abolished slavery sooner. So, the revolutionary war consequentially perpetuated slavery in the U.S. by not allowing Britain to tyrannically take away slavery.

Slavery or not, the Confederacy simply had an extremely different culture than the North, and that difference in culture exists even to this day. Even without the abolition of slavery, they still had a case for forming their own independent government. Even now many southern states cry out for states rights, which means moving from a Unitary-leaning Federation to a Confederation-leaning Federation. Of course they've lost their chance to ever become sovereign because of the advancements in military technology. Even the liberals who'd like most of the south not to exist still want to retain the authority to tax their incomes--the new healthcare bill isn't going to be cheap.

I think that having a month to "honor" the confederation is just as much bull crap as a month to honor Black history.

[DOOM!]

If it's a History Month that's reserved for Virginians only, and this April only, then fine. Otherwise, when will everyone have time to study misc. sciences like... I dunno... the history of the Third Reich?
(Reductio ad Hitlerum is such fun!)

[Simon Phoenix]

i'm black and still offended....not cause i'm black but i'm offended as an american.....why does the south embrace thier traderous past?i heard a governor a few weeks ago refer to the civil war as an act ofyankee agression.jefferson davis and the other traders were not american heroes they were criminals.the rebel flag is a flag of the trader, so when i see these racists fly it i know that retardedness is still strong and alive in the south.

[Forgotten Show]

Simon, since you're so willing to throw stones, would you like to demonstrate how the South "betrayed" the North? How is "retardedness... still strong and alive in the south"? I would love to see the logic behind your statements.


Bad Memory

[wolfgirl90]

The thing is, slavery is boring and hack-kneeyed. There's no need to give more awareness to something which we pound into students' head in every history class they take. If the governor mentioned slavery, it'd be a pointless distraction. So many of us know how horrible the slave had it back in the south, and yet we have no idea how the free southern man had it in an agricultural society because, well, slavery is all that's high-lighted.

Its not the lack of "awareness" of slavery that people are getting up in arms about (we get enough of it in school in February); its not as if people want this to be just about slavery. Its the fact that McDonnell made this proclamation about Virginians learning about Confederate history without mentioning one of the key reasons why the Confederacy was formed in the first place. Sure, slavery wasn't the only reason why the Civil War was fought but there really is no getting around that little tidbit so long as we are discussing it, especially the Confederacy which, out of a population of 9,103,332, had 3,521,110 slaves. That's 39% of the population. There's really no ignoring the issue of slavery when nearly 2/5 of the Confederacy's population were slaves.

However, as I said before, the idea of Confederate History Month is not what I have a problem with; I personally think that it is a great idea (I might one of very few Black people who actually does). The omission of slavery was the issue. Its not that Confederate History Month should be about slavery, but it should be mentioned somewhere since there really is no getting around that when we are talking about the history of the Confederacy.