I got a question.

[MrFun]

Ok this is yet another Civil War-related thread, but the question at the end of this post has not really been answered before IIRC.

First off, I want to point out that I find the politics of how different groups of people choose to remember the Civil War and Reconstruction fascinating and how this continues to affect race relations today in United States.

Whites who are extremely biased in favor of the Union try to emphasize the racism behind the Confederacy, while ignoring the hypocrisy of the Union during the Civil War and then during Reconcstruction -- enfranchise blacks in Southern states, but exclude Chinese, Amerindians, and Japanese from equal rights. These same people also point out every atrocity some Confederate soldiers have committed against black civilians and black soldiers, while forgetting the atrocities that some white Union soldiers have committed.

Another group includes those whites who are extremely biased in favor of the Confederacy to the extent that they minimalize slavery as an insignificant issue of antebellum America leading up to the Civil War. They also over emphasize the issue of states rights, ignoring the fact that states rights was used as a way to preserve slavery, and later, to revoke the equal rights given to blacks during Reconstruction. This extreme biased memory became the "Lost Cause" mythology.

A third group includes blacks who embrace the emancipationist memory of the Civil War and Reconstruction to an extreme extent, so as to put Lincoln on the pedestal reserved for demi-gods. These blacks want to forget that the Emancipation Proclamation was really a half-step, war-time strategic measure. They also want to ignore the minority of black slaves who were loyal to plantation owners during the Civil War.

Unfortunately, as a result of the "Lost Cause" mythology that developed from the 1880s, white Northerners reconciled with white Southerners on the South's terms, in regards to race relations. They embraced one another through the fraternal spirit of white supremacy.



Having pointed out the three, broad, main extreme biases, I have a question about the "Lost Cause" mythology and its ideology. If those who believe in the "Lost Cause" mythology claim that it is never based on racism, why has it always been the case that the overwhelming majority of blacks -- North and South -- have never venerated the historical Confederacy to this day??

This, I believe, is a question that has never been answered in past Civil War-related threads.

[Al B. Sure!]

A third group includes blacks who embrace the emancipationist memory of the Civil War and Reconstruction to an extreme extent, so as to put Lincoln on the pedestal reserved for demi-gods. These blacks want to forget that the Emancipation Proclamation was really a half-step, war-time strategic measure. They also want to ignore the minority of black slaves who were loyal to plantation owners during the Civil War.

i dont believe i know a single black person who subscribes to this theory and all i know are black people. those few who really care and articulate their views Lincoln didn't really care. i dont understand what type of benefits Lincoln gained from the Proclaimation and how anyone could possibly hold this view. Lincoln is seen as someone who wanted to ship blacks off to nicaragua and liberia and didn't give a damn.

of couse, this is a 'black intellectual' minority that likes to speak out of their ass a lot.

[MrFun]

David Blight, a historian, was the one who described the emancipationist memory of the Civil War.

Blight discussed how many blacks after the Civil War, through the early twentieth century, celebrated the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.

[MrFun]

And I suppose all the viewers of this thread were tongue-tied as to finding an intelligible answer on why the vast majority of blacks do not celebrate the "Lost Cause" mythology as many white Southerners and a number of white Northerners do.

[chequita guevara]

You are so arrogant.

[Sprayber]

I agree with che.

[Inverse Icarus]

I agree with Spray, who agrees with Che.

[Verto]

The South will rise again...THEN will take care of those who questioned us.

[GePap]

I always found it funny that the "states right" south was the first to impose a national draft-and forced all southern soldiers to stay in the army long after thier terms were supposed to end.

[Sprayber]

Originally posted by GePap
I always found it funny that the "states right" south was the first to impose a national draft-and forced all southern soldiers to stay in the army long after thier terms were supposed to end.

So did many men in the South who decided to fight for the Union. They just found it hilarious.

[MrFun]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
You are so arrogant.

[chequita guevara]

Let's see if we can save this from the usual MrFun bash the South thread.

What I would be interested in understand is the spread of the Lost Cause mythos through areas of the South that were pro-union, like Kentucky or Appalachia. I think the civil war nature of the Civil War gets neglected far too often.

[Sava]

William T Sherman is a hero... rise again South... I DARE YOU!!!

[MrFun]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Let's see if we can save this from the usual MrFun bash the South thread.

What I would be interested in understand is the spread of the Lost Cause mythos through areas of the South that were pro-union, like Kentucky or Appalachia. I think the civil war nature of the Civil War gets neglected far too often.

Just because I have a special interest in the politics of how different groups of people remember the Civil War and Reconstruction, and how those memories affect race relations, does not mean I want to bash the South.


You didn't read all of my initial post -- I pointed out the extreme bias from the North. So how am I bashing the South by pointing out biases from all different groups of people??

[SlowwHand]

First, the North had conscription also.
The fact that each STATE had conscription has nothing to do with your question.observation, GePap.

Other unanswered questions:

1) Why did Lincol wait until the North was through with slavery, replaced by Irish, to issue his beloved Emancipation Proclamation?

2) If the esteemed Lincoln was going to declare all slaves free, why did he wait until half-way through the war? Why not before the first shot was fired?

3) If the wonderful Lincoln was going to free slaves, why just Blacks?

4) What of California?
From the California Constitution of 1879:
"No native of China, no idiot, insane person, or person convicted of any inmfamous crime shall ever exercise the privileges of an elector of this State".

[For the dull-witted, this means can not vote]

5) Why is that so many Northerners refuse to accept the above facts?

6) Will your taffy ass ever get tired of belittling Southern states?