My experience in school was that the black regiments’ contributions to the success of the Union forces was never mentioned. Thank you for for making it come alive.
My experience in school was that the black regiments’ contributions to the success of the Union forces was never mentioned. Thank you for for making it come alive.
... and I never heard of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU's) until a few years ago ...:
"Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Most of these institutions were founded in the years after the American Civil War and are concentrated in the Southern United States.[1] During the period of segregation prior to the Civil Rights Act, the great majority of institutions of higher education served predominantly white students, and disqualified or limited black American enrollment.[2][3] For a century after the end of slavery in the United States in 1865, most colleges and universities in the Southern United States prohibited all African Americans from attending, while institutions in other parts of the country regularly employed quotas to limit admissions of Black people.[4][5][6][7] HBCUs were established to provide opportunities to African Americans and are largely responsible for establishing and expanding the African-American middle class.[8][9]
"There are 101 HBCUs in the United States (of 121 institutions that existed during the 1930s), representing three percent of the nation's colleges and universities,[10] including both public and private institutions.[11] Of these remaining HBCU institutions in the United States, 27 offer doctoral programs, 52 offer master's programs, 83 offer bachelor's degree programs, and 38 offer associate degrees.[12][13][14] Among the graduates of HBCUs are civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., United States Vice President Kamala Harris, United States Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, Virginia governor Douglas Wilder, and former president of Brown University Ruth Simmons."
Years ago when I was a student at Kalamazoo College in Michigan, a prof and several of us went to North Carolina to visit Shaw University, I think in Raleigh. I don't know if it still exists. It was funded by a white man to make sure higher education remained segregated. On the way back, we stopped in Cleveland to have a meal. One of our number was a black student and we heard mutterings about civil rights workers as we went to sit down. This was in the early 60s.
The new book “The 1619 Project Book” details much of black history that was purposefully cloaked from all Americans who are not black and living black history.
My friend and fellow author, Lucian K. Truscott IV, a sixth-generation descendant of Jefferson, was the first white member of the family to bring representatives of the Hemmings wing of the family to the annual family meeting at Monticello. He's a driving force for both the official acceptance and acknowledgement of the Hemmings descendants, and for the work now done at Monticello to publicly deal with the question of slavery there.
I read about this and was so impressed. Truscott is an example of a person who embraces truth and inclusiveness. A very special person. Honest. More like him, please.
I know all about it. If you read The New York Times you will learn more about the following in today's paper: 'The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has reached a settlement with Nikole Hannah-Jones, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for The New York Times Magazine, after a dispute over tenure, the school said on Friday.'
“The steps taken to resolve the lingering potential legal action posed by Ms. Hannah-Jones will hopefully help to close this chapter and give the university the space to focus on moving forward,” David Boliek, chair of the university’s board of trustees, said in a statement.'
Lynell, Your comment about the 1619 Project’s historical accuracy controversy makes me realize that the 1619 Project is held to a higher threshold of accuracy than most “traditional” history taught in high schools. Yet, it has become a whipping boy for CRT conspiracy theories, and a sure-fire campaign fundraiser for the gop.
Yes. The GOP doesn’t need any messaging beyond saying “woke” or “CRT” at every opportunity. Gets them every white vote it’s possible for them to get, which is unfortunately most of them by about 20 points (40 in red states).
I have the 1619 book on my list, but haven't bought it yet. I have been to Monticello twice. I once had a long argument with someone on a thread where he assumed that I was an all out admirer of Jefferson, who I see as a very complicated man. I am well aware of Jefferson's shortcomings as I told him. It took him forever to tell me he was basing all on Zinn. That's fine, but I had read many books on slavery and one of the Hemmings. But then I am a history person and he had told my husband that he has contempt for history. What I found interesting as I read all those books on slavery was how historians wrote about it changed through the years.
I knew nothing about black soldiers or Col. Shaw until the movie Glory came out. I was both thrilled and ashamedly curious after that. It started me on several years of reading about our Civil War. The first book I read was fiction, "Killer Angels." I realized I never even really knew much about Gettysburg beyond the Address. All I knew were a few names, famous and infamous. One gorgeous day I got up and decided to make the trip to Gettysburg. I asked my mom if she would like to go. When we got there we hired an excellent guide. Both of us were kind of dazed afterwards as the horror of the battle there settled into our consciousness. Years later mom is gone and I start building a family tree. In doing so one of the surprising discoveries i made took me back to that day trip. I knew my grandfather (also from a prominent Boston family) named mom after an aunt of his. What I did not know was that the aunt was actually his great aunt that lived to be 105. Her husband and three children all dead too young, no grandchildren. My mother's namesake's only son is buried at Gettysburg, killed July 3. I wish we had known that the day we went to Gettysburg! The generations following that war sure did a good job of burying their pain in the north and shame in the south. As a result that war seems to still be spilling blood. Try as I might I do not understand people that love the Confederate flag and all it stands for.
I do not understand racists or taking pride in confederate ancestry. I wish I could offer a counter argument to you but sadly I cannot. Can you actually bask in the glory of the confederacy and not be a racist? Just as I can't believe that not all people on j6 are racists because I keep thinking of a conversation I had with a friend of mine in the fall of 2016...when I mentioned how puzzled I was by DJT voters because x, Y, z. She literally spat out the words "don't you call me a racist." I had said no such thing. It never occurred to me she would vote for him. Clearly from her reaction it was true. My mouth dropped open. I was devastated. I just got in my car and drove home. We haven't spoken since that day.
I am sorry about your friend. I am lucky. I have no close friends who are Trumpers and am 2000 miles away from where I grew up....Indiana. I had one ex-classmate tell me she wouldn't like to be educated like me....so I guess ignorance is bliss. I am sure she is so happy about Roe being reversed too. She is a religious fundamentalist and that's part of her problem. Many of the people who are racist are poorer whites who have long used this as a way to feel better about themselves and have been encouraged to do so by the power elite....who are really all about power and money and not much else. The election of Obama really got to all of them....what, a black president. I have lots of family on the lower end of the social scale in so. Indiana and Illinois. One of my great nieces has two mixed race daughters, so I am hoping that most of them are accepting. As far as I can tell my nephew and his wife are, but otherwise, his wife is sometimes down the rabbit hole. I don't know about the rest of them. My ex-brother-in-law is a proud Trumper.
"We were fighting for our freedom!" - I have heard that too many times from those who believe in "The War of Northern Aggression," as the Civil War is commonly known among white Southerners.
In Savannah we also heard it was The Late Unpleasantness. That's where the elderly docent in the house where Sherman stayed teared up when talking about what happened like the war was last week.
I wasn't aware of black regiments from the North fighting in the Civil War until I watched the movie "Glory" which is about this regiment and it's commander, Robert Gould Shaw. An excellent movie and also heart breaking.
In Brenda Wineapple's book, White Heat, Emily Dickinson's literary friend, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, enlists in the army to lead what is referred to as 'the first Union Black regiment. His bio is as follows: Harvard educated Boston Brahmin Universalist minister, Abolitionist, Feminist, radical Activist, Civil War commander of the first Union black regiment, featured Atlantic Monthly writer and prominent literary critic. Higginson wrote 'Army Life in a Black Regiment', an account of his experience as regiment commander in which he expresses extreme pride in his men.
My experience in school was that the black regiments’ contributions to the success of the Union forces was never mentioned. Thank you for for making it come alive.
I never heard anything about Blacks in the Civil War until I was in grad school.
... and I never heard of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU's) until a few years ago ...:
"Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Most of these institutions were founded in the years after the American Civil War and are concentrated in the Southern United States.[1] During the period of segregation prior to the Civil Rights Act, the great majority of institutions of higher education served predominantly white students, and disqualified or limited black American enrollment.[2][3] For a century after the end of slavery in the United States in 1865, most colleges and universities in the Southern United States prohibited all African Americans from attending, while institutions in other parts of the country regularly employed quotas to limit admissions of Black people.[4][5][6][7] HBCUs were established to provide opportunities to African Americans and are largely responsible for establishing and expanding the African-American middle class.[8][9]
"There are 101 HBCUs in the United States (of 121 institutions that existed during the 1930s), representing three percent of the nation's colleges and universities,[10] including both public and private institutions.[11] Of these remaining HBCU institutions in the United States, 27 offer doctoral programs, 52 offer master's programs, 83 offer bachelor's degree programs, and 38 offer associate degrees.[12][13][14] Among the graduates of HBCUs are civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., United States Vice President Kamala Harris, United States Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, Virginia governor Douglas Wilder, and former president of Brown University Ruth Simmons."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historically_black_colleges_and_universities
Years ago when I was a student at Kalamazoo College in Michigan, a prof and several of us went to North Carolina to visit Shaw University, I think in Raleigh. I don't know if it still exists. It was funded by a white man to make sure higher education remained segregated. On the way back, we stopped in Cleveland to have a meal. One of our number was a black student and we heard mutterings about civil rights workers as we went to sit down. This was in the early 60s.
Very sad about That, is't it? So much was EXCLUDED in our History books in school!!! On purpose!!!🤬🤬🤬
The movie "Glory" is an excellent dramatization of this story.
Glory (1989) Full Movie [HD]
https://m.ok.ru/video/2192740059762
I've just watched the trailer. Looks extremely well done, very moving.
It is. Got many nominations when it came out. The ending is a very realistic recreation of the Battle of Fort Wagner.
Agreed! I love that movie and bought it so I can watch it again and again.
Mary.
The new book “The 1619 Project Book” details much of black history that was purposefully cloaked from all Americans who are not black and living black history.
Monticello redefined: “A Slave Labor Camp.”
I found it by accident at my public library.
My friend and fellow author, Lucian K. Truscott IV, a sixth-generation descendant of Jefferson, was the first white member of the family to bring representatives of the Hemmings wing of the family to the annual family meeting at Monticello. He's a driving force for both the official acceptance and acknowledgement of the Hemmings descendants, and for the work now done at Monticello to publicly deal with the question of slavery there.
I read about this and was so impressed. Truscott is an example of a person who embraces truth and inclusiveness. A very special person. Honest. More like him, please.
yes i like him and his wife very much.. i met them at the Cherry Blossom festival in Marshfield Mo. please say hi from Laura X
Thank you, TC. I did not realize that about Lucian!
Thank you, TCin LA. (Heart isn't working.)
The New York Times Magazine launched the 1619 Project in August 2019, spearheaded by Nikole Hannah-Jones. The book came out on November 16, 2021.
Nicole denied tenure for her efforts to enlighten Americans about who they really are historically.
The link won’t paste so please search “Nikole Hannah Jones denied tenure” for details on America today. Not in the past.
I know all about it. If you read The New York Times you will learn more about the following in today's paper: 'The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has reached a settlement with Nikole Hannah-Jones, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for The New York Times Magazine, after a dispute over tenure, the school said on Friday.'
“The steps taken to resolve the lingering potential legal action posed by Ms. Hannah-Jones will hopefully help to close this chapter and give the university the space to focus on moving forward,” David Boliek, chair of the university’s board of trustees, said in a statement.'
That's actually old news, Mike S. See today's New York Times if you want to catchup on the story.
Thank you, Fern. I read/listened to each episode. Though there is controversy about its historical accuracy, my opinion is it is a worthy project.
This link takes you directly to the first episode of five podcasts, with the fifth episode divided into two parts. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/23/podcasts/1619-slavery-anniversary.html
Lynell, Your comment about the 1619 Project’s historical accuracy controversy makes me realize that the 1619 Project is held to a higher threshold of accuracy than most “traditional” history taught in high schools. Yet, it has become a whipping boy for CRT conspiracy theories, and a sure-fire campaign fundraiser for the gop.
Yes. The GOP doesn’t need any messaging beyond saying “woke” or “CRT” at every opportunity. Gets them every white vote it’s possible for them to get, which is unfortunately most of them by about 20 points (40 in red states).
Thanks for this, Michele. I am not very good at vetting things, so your take is heartening.
Have read it twice now and still trying to fully absorb the real history of America .
Isabel Wilkerson's works were life changing for me. Her best book IMO is 'The Warmth of Other Suns' , 2015 or 2016.
It brought a higher level change to my understanding of American history.
This along with Wilkerson's "Caste" speak to the history and ongoing racism that pervades this country.
SO agree!!! Her writing lifts and transports! Thanks to all of you for the links and reflections!!
also "An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States" is worth reading to discover more of the US history we weren't taught in school
More on slavery at Montecello:
https://www.monticello.org/slavery/
Thank you.
As ever, thanks to you too Mike!!
I have the 1619 book on my list, but haven't bought it yet. I have been to Monticello twice. I once had a long argument with someone on a thread where he assumed that I was an all out admirer of Jefferson, who I see as a very complicated man. I am well aware of Jefferson's shortcomings as I told him. It took him forever to tell me he was basing all on Zinn. That's fine, but I had read many books on slavery and one of the Hemmings. But then I am a history person and he had told my husband that he has contempt for history. What I found interesting as I read all those books on slavery was how historians wrote about it changed through the years.
Thanks—have it already.
I knew nothing about black soldiers or Col. Shaw until the movie Glory came out. I was both thrilled and ashamedly curious after that. It started me on several years of reading about our Civil War. The first book I read was fiction, "Killer Angels." I realized I never even really knew much about Gettysburg beyond the Address. All I knew were a few names, famous and infamous. One gorgeous day I got up and decided to make the trip to Gettysburg. I asked my mom if she would like to go. When we got there we hired an excellent guide. Both of us were kind of dazed afterwards as the horror of the battle there settled into our consciousness. Years later mom is gone and I start building a family tree. In doing so one of the surprising discoveries i made took me back to that day trip. I knew my grandfather (also from a prominent Boston family) named mom after an aunt of his. What I did not know was that the aunt was actually his great aunt that lived to be 105. Her husband and three children all dead too young, no grandchildren. My mother's namesake's only son is buried at Gettysburg, killed July 3. I wish we had known that the day we went to Gettysburg! The generations following that war sure did a good job of burying their pain in the north and shame in the south. As a result that war seems to still be spilling blood. Try as I might I do not understand people that love the Confederate flag and all it stands for.
They love it because they are racists and white supremacists.
I do not understand racists or taking pride in confederate ancestry. I wish I could offer a counter argument to you but sadly I cannot. Can you actually bask in the glory of the confederacy and not be a racist? Just as I can't believe that not all people on j6 are racists because I keep thinking of a conversation I had with a friend of mine in the fall of 2016...when I mentioned how puzzled I was by DJT voters because x, Y, z. She literally spat out the words "don't you call me a racist." I had said no such thing. It never occurred to me she would vote for him. Clearly from her reaction it was true. My mouth dropped open. I was devastated. I just got in my car and drove home. We haven't spoken since that day.
I am sorry about your friend. I am lucky. I have no close friends who are Trumpers and am 2000 miles away from where I grew up....Indiana. I had one ex-classmate tell me she wouldn't like to be educated like me....so I guess ignorance is bliss. I am sure she is so happy about Roe being reversed too. She is a religious fundamentalist and that's part of her problem. Many of the people who are racist are poorer whites who have long used this as a way to feel better about themselves and have been encouraged to do so by the power elite....who are really all about power and money and not much else. The election of Obama really got to all of them....what, a black president. I have lots of family on the lower end of the social scale in so. Indiana and Illinois. One of my great nieces has two mixed race daughters, so I am hoping that most of them are accepting. As far as I can tell my nephew and his wife are, but otherwise, his wife is sometimes down the rabbit hole. I don't know about the rest of them. My ex-brother-in-law is a proud Trumper.
"We were fighting for our freedom!" - I have heard that too many times from those who believe in "The War of Northern Aggression," as the Civil War is commonly known among white Southerners.
In Savannah we also heard it was The Late Unpleasantness. That's where the elderly docent in the house where Sherman stayed teared up when talking about what happened like the war was last week.
So vividly and compassionately. And so proudly.
Yes. The freedom to own another human.
I wasn't aware of black regiments from the North fighting in the Civil War until I watched the movie "Glory" which is about this regiment and it's commander, Robert Gould Shaw. An excellent movie and also heart breaking.
My experience, too. I feel enlightened and inspired by learning about the 54th.
In Brenda Wineapple's book, White Heat, Emily Dickinson's literary friend, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, enlists in the army to lead what is referred to as 'the first Union Black regiment. His bio is as follows: Harvard educated Boston Brahmin Universalist minister, Abolitionist, Feminist, radical Activist, Civil War commander of the first Union black regiment, featured Atlantic Monthly writer and prominent literary critic. Higginson wrote 'Army Life in a Black Regiment', an account of his experience as regiment commander in which he expresses extreme pride in his men.