Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Yes, the South Pulled Out Over Slavery
This article on why the South seceded from the Union (slavery) is quite good. The only thing it doesn't deal with is Lincoln's well-known desire to move the freed slaves out of the United States and into a new colony of some kind (something not discussed much until fairly recently). This kind of racial prejudice was overwhelmingly dominant in both north and south at the time, unfortunately.
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Back in the 50s or 60s I remember someone telling me (I was a child then) that one of the many solutions to the "slavery problem" was to move all African Americans into the state of Mississippi and create an all "Black" state. I haven't checked to see if this was actually true, but it must have been on the minds of many at the time. In that segregated era, the "one drop rule", (one drop rule meant that if you had just one drop of African American blood in your background you were automatically put into the "Black" racial group), flourished. Wonder when the race/slavery thing will become a relic? NC and SC politicians seem to want to keep it alive forever.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised when I first read about Lincoln's support for black colonization as a way of solving the race problem. Because Lincoln has been almost deified in the U.S., that aspect wasn't mentioned too often.
ReplyDeleteObama's election in 2008 was a milestone for our country in that regard. Electing a black president is simply a mind-blowing event, given our history. (I wrote about it in a post on my blog right after the election, and preached about it too, which caused a huge stir in my congregation!)
I think if blacks weren't so economically disadvantaged still, the racial issue would almost be forgotten. But given the continuing economic problems, it continues to raise its ugly head.
But the other point I would make is that among my children's generation, race is a non-issue, as is homosexuality.
Great point!!! Being a military brat shielded me from overt racism and homophobia. Obviously, gay people in the military back in the day did not reveal their orientation and we were all "too civilized" to talk about it. I went to University of Texas and majored in Art so a lot of my classmates were gay, lesbian or bisexual. My son's generation is much less aware of the differences in sexual orientation or color and that gives me hope that we all will not be judged by the color of our skin but by the content of our character. Thanks for posting.
ReplyDeleteThank you for commenting!
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