Civil War Memory

Did Slavery End in 1865?

I finally decided to read Douglas A. Blackmon's Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II.  My reluctance was twofold: On the one hand I already have a short stack of books to read on slavery and race and didn't feel a need to add to it.  More to the point, however, I am usually quite skeptical about reading history books by journalists.  They are typically good writers, but tend to gloss over important analytical points that can only be discerned by reading through a selection of the secondary literature.  Well, the other day my wife shared a review of the book that was published in a German newspaper and my interest was piqued.  After  three days of reading this book I have to say that I am emotionally drained.  Blackmon examines the steps taken after the war in the South to control the black population, maintain white supremacy, and provide an economic boost to lumber camps, coal mines, brickyards, railroads, quarries, and farm plantations.  By the turn of the century every state in the South, except Virginia, had instituted laws that allowed local and state law enforcement to lease prisoners [Blackmon argues that over 90% were black] to these companies.  Violations included vagrancy, raising one's voice in front of white women and a host of other minor offenses.  The leasing out was usually the result of the inability to pay a fine/debt and once the transaction was made company owners were given complete control of the prisoner.  Blackmon argues that upwards of 200,000 African Americans fell victim to this hideous practice.  Check out the website for the book which includes an overview of the author's argument as well as a selection of photographs from these forced labor camps.

Blackmon structures his book around the Cottenham family, beginning with Green Cottenham who was arrested in 1908 on charges of vagrancy and forced to work for a company in Birmingham, Alabama owned by U.S. Steel.  He worked in a mine called Slope No. 12 where, like many others, he died.  From there the author traces the history of the family going back to the early nineteenth century.  Along the way Blackmon does an excellent job of situating the family's story in the broader context of the Civil War and Reconstruction as well as early slave-leasing practices, which began before the war as states like Alabama focused more and more on mining and iron production.  It is hard to believe that this practice continued into the 1940s and was only stopped for fear that it would aid the Nazis in their claims of racial abuse within the United States.

Why Did R.E. Lee Have to Be Born So Far Out of the Way?

As I mentioned earlier, Michaela and I stopped off at Stratford Hall for a quick tour of the plantation on our way home from vacation.  We arrived at 3pm which gave us little time to stroll around the grounds before the start of the final tour of the day at 4pm.  We were only able to spend a few minutes in the museum but I noticed a wide range of exhibits that covered both the Lee family and the history of the estate following its sale in the 1820s and through the establishment of the R.E. Lee Memorial Foundation and later the R.E. Lee Memorial Association.  The grounds are quite beautiful and on a clear day you can see the Potomac River from the house.  The tour itself, however, was a bit of a disappointment.  Visitors are taken through the various rooms and vivid descriptions of various objects are shared as well as short overview of the more prominent members of the Lee family, but there is a minimum amount of information shared concerning life at the plantation.   While our guide did a competent job there was very little analysis to give visitors a deeper understanding of how plantations functioned on the Northern Neck.  At one point she commented that the building of the house was a team effort between the Lee's and their slaves.  I'm not sure this is the most accurate way of describing the relationship between slaves and the family that owned them. I should point out that there is an ongoing effort to piece together a more complete story of Stratford Hall which is somewhat hampered by a lack of documentary evidence.

That said, I liked the fact that the tour did not focus on R.E. Lee alone; after all, Stratford Hall served as his home only for a brief period of time.  This makes for an interesting challenge.  On the one hand most people, including yours truly, travel to the plantation because of R.E. Lee, yet the property has little to do with him.  On a somewhat related note, I noticed in the gift shop that while you could purchase an America flag there were no Confederate flags for sale other than a few items such as the hat that I am pictured wearing.  My wife suggested that it would have been inappropriate to sell such an item given that the house has nothing to do with Confederate history.  What do you think?

Interestingly, at one point our guide commented on the changing face of the Stratford Hall staff.  She jokingly said that a few years ago the directors all had white hair, while in recent years they are much younger.  I had to laugh when I heard this as I just met the new Executive Director, Paul C. Reber, at the recent meeting of the Society for Civil War Historians.  Paul discussed the challenges of doing public history in the 21st century.  Later that day I had a chance to talk with Paul and it is clear to me that a number of changes concerning interpretation at Stratford Hall are forthcoming.  Paul has some very interesting ideas about exhibits and interpretation.  One of the more interesting opportunities for interpretation at Stratford concerns the infamous cradle, which until recently was thought to be the R.E. Lee's.  The object was reason enough for many to visit Stratford Hall given its supposed iconic value.  When it was discovered that the cradle could not possibly be Lee's the family that loaned it to Stratford requested to have it returned.  Paul suggested that it would be interesting to do an exhibit on the history of the object throughout its different phases from sacred to ordinary object.  I agree.

What I find most interesting about the history of the site is the story surrounding Mary Field Lanier who helped create the R.E. Lee Memorial Association in 1929.  The organization assumed ownership of the property to turn it into an "ENDURING TESTIMONIAL TO THE STAINLESS LIFE AND GLORIOUS SERVICES OF OUR DEPARTED GENERAL." Lanier was the President of the William Alexander, Jr. Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in Greenwich, Connecticut, which I also find interesting.  There is a library at Stratford Hall and I've already inquired into the possibility of doing some research on the subject, perhaps for next summer. 

Of course, Stratford Hall is a bit out of the way, but if you happen to be on the Northern Neck of Virginia do yourself a favor and visit this beautiful site.

An Excerpt From Virginia: History, Government, Geography

Yesterday I shared an illustration from a popular history book used here in Virginia titled, Virginia: History, Government, Geography by Francis B. Simkins, Spotswood H. Jones, and Sidman P. Poole.  The illustration speaks for itself, but today I found some text on slavery and race relations from the book, which serves to remind us of just how important it is that our history textbooks be based on first-rate scholarship and not fantasy.

A feeling of strong affection existed between masters and slaves in a majority of Virginia homes. . . The house servants became almost as much a part of the planter’s family circle as its white members. . . The Negroes were always present at family weddings. They were allowed to look on at dances and other entertainments . . . A strong tie existed between slave and master because each was dependent on the other. . . The slave system demanded that the master care for the slave in childhood, in sickness, and in old age. The regard that master and slaves had for each other made plantation life happy and prosperous.  Life among the Negroes of Virginia in slavery times was generally happy. The Negroes went about in a cheerful manner making a living for themselves and for those for whom they worked. . . But they were not worried by the furious arguments going on between Northerners and Southerners over what should be done with them. In fact, they paid little attention to these arguments.

One of my readers commented on the previous post that he was assigned this book in 1980.  Now that is incredibly disturbing.

I Sense a Pattern Here

This is a perfect follow-up to my earlier post on Rickey Pittman's childrens book about Jim Limber. I've suggested numerous times that the proposed statue commemorating Jefferson Davis and Jim Limber fits into a broader push on the part of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and other heritage groups to minimize the place of slavery within the antebellum South as well as the history of the Confederacy specifically.  Of course, the view that slaveholding was benign and best understood as paternalistic has a long and disturbing history in this country. 

This morning a friend emailed an image taken from a textbook titled Virginia: History, Government, Geography (Scribners, 1966) and written by Francis Butler Simkins.  Simkins was a well-known Southern Historian who taught at Longwood College and who authored a well-received biography of Ben Tillman, which was published in 1944 by the University of South Carolina Press.  The individual who emailed the image noted that Simkins's narrative betrays a strong pro-slavery bias, but speculates that, given his scholarship, revisions were made by the Virginia Textbook Commission and that Simkins allowed his name to continue to be used for the publication.  As for the image used for the chapter on slavery, I don't think I need to explain what is problematic about it.  There is a rich history behind the Davis-Limber statue and it fits neatly into our broader assumptions concerning race relations in the South and throughout the United States at different times.  In the same way that the illustration misrepresents the realities of slaveholding, can't we also suggest that a statue depicting Davis holding hands with Limber misrepresents how blacks lived under the various Davis rooftops? 

We must be very critical when it comes to the messages that our public spaces convey about our history.  We no longer live at a time when one racial group has a monopoly on the shape of public spaces as a way to maintain control of both history and government.  Let's take advantage of that fact.

Jim Limber for Kids

There is nothing more disturbing for an educator than to come across children's books whose authors have little qualification as historians or who have an implicit agenda to get across. Such is the case with Rickey Pittman's book, Jim Limber Davis: A Black Orphan in the Confederate White House.  Here is the jacket description:

The true story of the adopted black child of Jefferson Davis. Jim Limber Davis was rescued from an abusive guardian by Varina Davis when he was only five years old. Jefferson and Varina Davis welcomed him into their home, the Confederate White House, as one of the family, and Jim lived with them until the fall of the Confederacy. When Union soldiers invaded Richmond, Virginia, they captured Jefferson Davis. Later, they kidnapped Jim Limber in Georgia and spread cruel rumors that he was Jefferson Davis's slave. This true story provides a glimpse of how Jim was accepted as one of the Davis's children and reveals their family's love and compassion for him.

As John Coski noted in his short essay there is a great deal that we do not know about this story.  Pittman seems comfortable giving Limber the Davis name, though there are no records to demonstrate that Limber was officially adopted.  With any other publisher I would be disappointed, but in this case we are dealing with Pelican, which is one of the most unreliable and agenda-driven publishers out there.  The author's personal website can be found here.  He is an active member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Camp Thomas McGuire in West Monroe, Louisiana.

Pittman also provides an online study guide to accompany this book.  Students can play games that Limber would have played or inquire into his whereabouts as did Jefferson Davis after the war.  Students can draw a picture of the Confederate White House where Limber lived, though I wonder if the family's slaves are expected to be included in such a drawing.  Even better are the statistics on free blacks that Pittman compiled from James and Walter Kennedy's books, The South Was Right and Myths of American Slavery. 

This is a disturbing book that is based on an overly simplistic view of slavery, free blacks, and Jefferson Davis's own personal history as a slaveowner and leader of a nation whose stated goal was the preservation of slavery.  The current push to commemorate this story in marble is based on little more than the outline of this story and it should concern all of us who hope to continue to expand and deepen our understanding of this crucial moment in America's past.

John Coski on Jefferson Davis and Jim Limber

Richard Williams recently posted a short article by historian John Coski on the relationship between Jim Limber and the Davis family, which appeared in the winter issue of the Museum of the Confederacy's newsletter.  While Coski does point to mutual bonds of affection between Jim Limber and the Davis family, he also suggests that there are many questions that cannot be answered.  This, of course, could change in the future.  While Coski does not address the debate surrounding the proposed statue of Limber and Davis, his analysis does bring the question of whether such a statue is justified based on the available evidence into sharp relief.  Is the Sons of Confederate Veterans justified in proposing a statue based on such limited evidence?  If so, why?  What precedent would this set in terms of the way we go about commemorating and remembering other moments in American history in our public spaces?  Finally, I hope Mr. Williams is not operating under the assumption that Coski's essay ought to be interpreted as tacit support for this proposed statue.  If anything the essay highlights the wide gulf between what serious historians can legitimately conclude about this relationship and the message that a marble statue will no doubt communicate.  You will find Coski's essay below.

American Civil War Center to Make Decision About Davis-Limber Statue in August

The most recent news suggests that the American Civil War Center at Tredegar will make a decision about the proposed monument to Jefferson Davis and Jim Limber by the Sons of Confederate Veterans in August.  I will keep you up-to-date as best I can, but my guess is that this statue doesn't have a chance.  See previous posts, here and here.  The SCV's problem is that they are dealing with serious historians who also understand historical memory.

Using Ken Burns's "The Civil War" in the Classroom

This talk was presented today in Philadelphia at the 2008 Meeting of the Society of Civil War Historians.  The panel was titled, "Gearing Up For the Civil War Sesquicentennial in the High School Classroom" and included, James Percoco, Ronald Maggiano, and Andy Slap. 

When it aired in 1989 Ken Burns’s epic documentary about America’s Civil War garnered the largest audience in PBS history. Viewers who had little interest or knowledge of the Civil War were attracted to the powerful images and sounds as well as the narration by David McCullough and commentary by Shelby Foote - the combination of which served to introduce a heroic and tragic story to a national audience. While historians have spent considerable time analyzing Burns’s documentary as historical interpretation, little attention has been given to the ways in which the film can be utilized in history courses on the high school level.¹  All too often the film is used as a launching pad to other classroom activities or simply shown with little student preparation; such an approach renders students as passive observers rather than engaging them in trying to better understand the choices that went into the film’s script along with how the various elements come together to tell a coherent story.²   More importantly, students fail to see the film itself as a product of long-standing assumptions about the war that are embedded in our popular imagination and often guarded as sacred.  The beginning of the Civil War Sesquicentennial in 2011 will provide a unique opportunity to introduce questions of memory and interpretation in our high school history classes.  In the time that I have today I would like to talk briefly about how I engage my students with questions of memory and interpretation through a careful viewing of Burns’s The Civil War. 

George Fitzhugh, John Calhoun, (and Pat Buchanan?): Paternalism is Alive and Well

Check out the Vast Public Indifference blog for an excellent post on the question of whether colonial slaves were Christians.  While the post is worth reading, I was struck by her referencing of a recent syndicated column by Pat Buchanan in which he espouses what I assumed to be an extinct justification for slavery within intellectual circles (Yes, even though I rarely agree with Buchanan I consider him to be an intellectual.):

First, America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known.

As Caitlin points out in the post, it is not at all clear that the first few generations of slaves subscribed to Christianity in large numbers.   For now, however, let's assume that all "600,000" were indeed introduced and accepted Christianity and ignore serious history as Buchanan does.  Does anyone really believe that their being introduced to a new religion outweighs the moral calculus surrounding the trauma of being separated from loved ones, community, and one's very identity?  Would Pat Buchanan accept this as a price for salvation for his own family and friends?   How could anyone justify the suffering and death that accompanied slavery with salvation?  If this bizarre picture of how our moral universe operates is true than God does indeed work in mysterious ways. 

If You Want to be a Historian, You Can be a Historian: A Bit More About Jim Webb's Confederacy

Jim Webb appeared on CNN this morning and quickly responded to a question re: the Politico piece.   He seemed a bit frustrated, but I don't blame him given that it's virtually impossible to hold a mature discussion within the format of our mainstream media.  You can check out the interview at Huffington; unfortunately, I couldn't find a way to embed it here.  Still, Webb managed to rattle off a few kooky comments.  This one is my favorite:

People in the North were never asked to give up slaves even with the Emancipation Proclamation. 

I assume Webb is referring to southern states that remained in the United States since...you know...slavery had already been outlawed throughout the North.  More to the point, Webb reminded me why I don't consider him to be a historian, although he identified himself as one during the interview.  He went through the standard motions of distancing the reasons why most white southerners fought from slavery by reminding us that only 5% were actual slaveowners.  They were motivated more by "loyalty to community" as if slavery and community can somehow be understood separately.  I listened to Webb make this comment as I put together the last section of my essay on demobilization and the humiliating experiences that returning Confederates faced when they were met by USCTs and newly-freed slaves.

Sorry, but this kind of simplicity no longer cuts it in more serious circles.  You can't call yourself a historian when all you can do is fall back on the same tired one-liners that are in every neo-Confederate's playbook.  You need to read books by Jim McPherson, Joe Glatthaar, Jason Phillips, and Chandra Manning to even begin to approach these complex questions.  Webb identifying himself as a historian is like me identifying myself as a chef when all I can do is prepare TV Dinners or [now your turn] identifying yourself as _____________ when all you can do is __________.