The End of The War of the Rebellion?

I played this video for my American Government class yesterday and I could not help notice the mention of slavery throughout the speech.  I teach a lengthy unit on Slavery and Civil Rights during my first semester of American History and one of the things I try to convey is the continued effects on the African-American community after the end of physical slavery following the war.  Many of the things he said in his short history in the speech mirror what I try to teach my students about the effects of events in history.  Maybe all of my talk about Multicausational-Multidimensional History made some sense for some of my students.

I have not shown it to my American History classes yet, and I wonder if it would allow for some connections to be made with what they have already learned?

One More Reason Black Confederates are a Myth

This book by Charles Lane I believe furthers the idea that Black Confederates are truely a myth.  The story in this book has been something I have been thinking about a great deal.  I do not mean the Colfax Massacre itself, but the treatment of African-Americans by the south following the Civil War, Reconstruction and into the 20th Century.  It has always been my contention, even if only in my mind, that if the south did in fact have black confederates in their ranks there is a very distinct difference in the treatment of those blacks from the time of their “faithful” service to the time of Reconstruction when violence was the rule.

Lane’s book looks (I have not yet read it yet, but this is based on Amazon.com and the comments of others) to help disspell the idea that blacks were treated as “faithful” comrades in arms during the war and after.  If these blacks were as neo-confederates say then what is the justification for the events like the Colfax Massacre? 

I believe the whole Black Confederate myth is just one more pathetic attempt by the neo-confederates and thier ilk to legitamize the Civil War as something more than a war for slavery.  It is unthinkable to them that men like Lee and Jackson would fight for slavery and if they can create a sable arm of the confederate army then they feel they will have build a very strong defense of a war for something else.  Too bad they are building that wall with smoke and mirrors.

Transformer CGI

 Interesting video, and also a test to see if I could embed video for the first time.

Textbook Neo-confederatism!

Here we go again…this is so textbook neo-confederate!

 Link

More Blogging on Black Confederates

Here is an interesting article over at The Civil War Gazette

Transformers

Alright, I know this is kids stuff and an adult should not be blogging about robots that change into vehicals etc.  But, I just happend to get a chance to watch the new movie over the weekend and all the old memories of my early teen years came back to me.  I have all but one of the original Generation 1 Transfomers comic books and I am now searching Ebay for that last piece of the puzzle.  I used to ride my bike up town each week and then once a month to obtain the newest comic in the series and any other offshoots that might turn up.  I was very disappointed when Marvel ended its run with the series and I lost touch with the new versions that are now out there and I find myself longing to collect and read these new stories.

 Ah…the good olde days!!

Lincoln wanted Gradual Emancipation at $400 a slave.

Fox News is running this story

Department of Rare Books and Special Collections at the University of Rochester

 “To be given a document that plunks you right into a situation that Lincoln was facing, it’s very compelling,” said Brian Fleming, a University of Rochester librarian who is heading the online project, which debuted Feb. 18 — Presidents Day.”