Sesquicentennial Madness
Never have I heard such a fun word used so much until now. With this being the 150th year since the American Civil War, there has been a rise in talks about slavery. I have to say I’m a little excited about this. While I am a realist and understand that this doesn’t mean that the country is completely ready to talk about slavery and its lasting legacy, it does give me hope that the conversation can at least get started.
I’m hopeful that the next four years will bring a different focus to the discussion of slavery, where we get past the politics for half a second and really start to look at who and what the slave was. Both as person and property. This will allow people to really see how complicated this society was and why everything really isn’t black and white. Visit sites that have a slave past, even if they don’t have a person doing the interpretation. Find out about the slave society in your area and don’t be afraid to ask. After all, now is a great time to start talking.
Short post tonight but I have a presentation to work on for the Matthews Historical Foundation and a ton of life changes happening at the same time. So until next time!
I too am excited about what will happen in the next four years. Perhaps one of the most intriguing stories so far – The Emancipation Proclamation in Detroit – http://www.freep.com/article/20110621/FEATURES01/106210385/Emancipation-Proclamation-visits-Henry-Ford?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE
Thanks for sharing this Jacob! That is incredible, waiting 7 hours to see the Emancipation Proclaimation? I wonder how those in line passed the time? But it is great to see so many people interested in one of the most important documents in our nation’s history and willing to do whatever it took to have that memory.