For the timeline project this week, I was tasked with collecting more research on dates between the Emancipation Proclamation and 1910. In particular, I sought out events having to do with Reconstruction, especially in Texas. Tuesday’s class definitely helped me in that respect, giving me plenty of events to start with, such as the passing of the Terrell laws. In fact, I was able to find some interesting primary sources for these events, including a manuscript outlining the Terrell laws printed in 1908, a short article advertising Henry Smith’s lynching in Paris, Texas the next day, and a digital copy of Ida B. Wells’ Southern Horrors. Along with these dates, I was able to fill out my time period quite nicely, although I may still have to do some research before our group meets to put the timeline together for good. Next, I will probably focus on fleshing out my descriptions of the events where necessary and formatting my entries so that they will work better on the timeline. In fact, after playing with the software a little more this week, I have come across a few aspects I’d like to tweak, so my next step may also include researching the software some more and trying to get it right before we all sit down to deal with it.
Regarding Southerner’s ability to honor their ancestors tastefully, I certainly think it’s possible, but taking this class has caused me to realize just how unrealistic some Southerners can be with their commemorations, especially in this day and age. I don’t think Southerners should be forced to forget about their ancestors because they fought against the Union, as that would be unfair; it is only human nature to be proud of descending from a soldier who risked or gave his life for a cause he believed in. However, it is also clear that the cause Confederates were fighting for was not one to be happy about today. As conflicting as the situation may seem, I see there being two options Southerners should pursue. The first is to commemorate the men of the Confederacy who deserve praise simply for being great men, the Lees and Jacksons of the war. Brown points out that even Northerners “have regarded Lee as an important symbol” (Brown, 80), which comes at no surprise. Even in taking this class, we are all commemorating the memory of these Confederate heroes at least somewhat (we are working on four separate projects about one Confederate hero, after all).
This brings me to my second point: Southerners have the right to honor their ancestors, but they need to be less biased and more educated about it. Horwitz, in discussing the catechism for the Children of the Confederacy, finds errors in its facts like claiming that “Federal supplies and forces greatly outweighed and outnumbered the Confederate forces” at Gettysburg when, in fact, Horwitz points out that they “weren’t badly outmanned.” (Horwitz, 37) A group interested in history should not be spreading such falsities, especially to children, just to make it seem like their ancestors were better people. If Southerners truly want to honor their forebears without insulting blacks, they need to accept that slavery was a main issue during the Civil War and that their ancestors were almost certainly racist, but that it was a product of the era, instead of hiding behind vague redefinitions of the war. By no means should they be proud of their ancestors’ racism, but it is only after accepting it as fact that Southerners can ever hope to make the argument that their forefathers were heroes in any sense.