American History

» pink101 - Robert E. Lee

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Robert E. Lee.
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Now there's a man who represents the ideals of the South regarding the meaning of liberty.
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Understanding Lee gives us a perspective on the Civil War we would not otherwise be able to have.
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Everyone needs to know about Robert E. Lee.
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A true stoic of whom it is said that no one resembled George Washington more faithfully.
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-- posted by pink101

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» Brian Tubbs - Robert E. Lee

In response to Robert E. Lee posted by pink101:

Most southerners (I mean that culturally more than geographically) will acknowledge Robert E. Lee to be the quintessential southern gentlemen - the true embodiment of the best of the "Old South." Being from Virginia, I can tell you that saying something bad about Marse Robert in certain parts of the South would be akin to cussing out someone's mama.

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» pink101 - Robert E. Lee

In response to Robert E. Lee posted by BrianTubbs:
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That's the souf for you.
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:)

-- posted by pink101

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» pink101 - Robert E. Lee

In response to Robert E. Lee posted by pink101:
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The "Souf" being way down yonder in Noo Orleeens.
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Virginians are much more dignified and, it would be the "Suth there, Suh!", and very curtly at that.
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I almost got arrested in Richmond along with four other teenagers for sitting in the back bench seat on a bus. It was July 26, 1949, and I was on my way to Paris Island with four other young guys. We had just enlisted the day before in the U.S. Marines and were traveling to the recruit camp in South Carolina. We had a several hour layover in Richmond and decided to spend some time there. Our first experience with the South and its evil racial prejudice. We got on an empty bus and went right to the back like we always did up here in Michigan. As long as there were no "culleds" in the bus, we were paid no attention. Then, the bus stopped to let on a new passenger--an elderly Negro woman who stopped and stood near the read door and would not sit down. The bus driver told us to leave the rear of the bus so that she could be seated back there. We said that we had paid and she could just sit down as we weren't going to move. The driver retorted that the bus wouldn't move until we changed our seats. Moreover, we were breaking the law and could be put in jail. We moved and the black lady sat down.
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Robert E. Lee. He was the man who released his slaves before Lincoln signed the proclamation, wasn't he?
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-- posted by pink101

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» pink101 - Virginia Teaching History

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Here is an interesting clip on some dialog regarding how the public schools in the State of Virgina make choices regarding what will be taught as history in the K-12 system:
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http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/...
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Check it out. You'll need Real Player. It's free and you can down loaded it at that site.

-- posted by pink101

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» Brian Tubbs - Robert E. Lee

In response to Robert E. Lee posted by pink101:

Lee's legacy regarding slavery is complicated. On the one hand, he liberated those slaves he was directly in ownership of, but was not as magnanimous to those slaves he controlled as head of his grandfather's estate. I haven't researched all the in's and out's, but let's say his record as a personal slave owner is mixed.

His philosophical views on slavery mirrored those of his hero, George Washington. He found slavery to be a great "moral evil." BUT...he parts with Washington in that Lee somehow believed that slavery was God's will for the African race in America, and that the slaves in America were better off in America than they would be in Africa. That's my understanding of his views based on my study of the man.

Like many in the Upper South, though, it's hard to pin down Lee on slavery. Because his views (like many others in the era) were progressing or changing with the times.

Lincoln was pretty racist in the 1850s. He was anti-slavery, but still racist. By the time of his death, however, Lincoln had come around to pretty much embracing racial equality. He counted Frederick Douglass as one of his close friends - and that feeling was mutual (in 1865).

So, we have to allow for the fact that many people of that day were PROGRESSING in their views regarding slavery and race relations. I think Lee was such a person.

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» pink101 - Robert E. Lee

In response to Robert E. Lee posted by BrianTubbs:
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I think Lee was such a person.
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Might have been. I've read some pretty nasty stuff about him regarding the discipline he had put on slaves under his authority.
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-- posted by pink101

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» Brian Tubbs - Robert E. Lee

In response to Robert E. Lee posted by pink101:

Yeah, I've read that too - and much of it is disputed. But, I'm willing to admit that SOME of it is probably true. However, Lee was also the man who took Communion alongside a black man in his once-segregated Richmond church in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War. And it was Lee who said publicly at the war's end, "I am rejoiced that Slavery is abolished."

The Civil War changed a lot of feelings in a lot of people about a lot of things. People do mature. It was YOU, after all, who quoted Paul in a different thread along these lines.

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