Celebrating War

About 150 years ago my great-grandfathers were fighting in the Civil War. They were privates in the American Army (sometimes called the Union Army). My family never had much luck when it came to promotions. Anyway those times are getting a long look on current TV programs devoted to history. Most of what I have seen are lectures by history professors (not bad, usually) and talks by park rangers (empty blather). What you seldom see in the lecture audiences is black people. They don't attend. Why not? 

Well, my guess is that black people view Civil War programs as white people telling stories about white people. The other reason is less appetizing. In many of these talks, especially by national park employees, the Civil War is presented as a noble battle between two equally noble sides led by fine Christian gentlemen like Robert E. Lee and Abe Lincoln. The attitude is that it is a shame one side had to lose. So here's what I suspect. Black people might not consider the slave-whipping Robert E. Lee good material for nobility. He was, for starters, a traitor. According to Grant, Lee's army fought for the worst cause this country has ever known: the extension of slavery to new territories. And then Lee ruined his own army by making rash assaults on well defended positions. 

In life Lee remained a vicious bigot as long as he drew breath.

Lee's excellent but fake reputation was part of a political shift that occurred during the period running from about 1880 to 1945 (I'm guessing at dates). During that time in America it was fine to be a racist as long as you were polite about it. Racism was common among Great White Men and found all over the nation. Accepting the South back into the Union and binding the country together meant keeping company with loony bigots, and that was no problem--until Hitler's example made racism seem trashy, low class and not respectable. Odd, isn't it? Hitler woke us up.

If we want people of color to take an interest in American history, we need to tell the truth about what happened and who did what to whom.