tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post258192065906226930..comments2024-03-17T20:04:18.872-05:00Comments on Indomitable | The online home of Chauncey DeVega: Honoring African American Civil War Soldiers, But Still Searching for the Myth That is "The Black Confederate"Lady Zora, Chauncey DeVega, and Gordon Gartrellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138154899923808806noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-62072788994392416082011-09-05T22:04:59.449-05:002011-09-05T22:04:59.449-05:00I'm late to this, promoted by your link in a c...I'm late to this, promoted by your link in a comment made to TNC's Sept 5th post. No argument with anything you've said; beautiful post. I think, however, your list of six accomplishments is missing a seventh: enslaved blacks taught themselves literacy and risked their lives to do so. I think it's Foner who points to 90% illiteracy among southern blacks in 1865, which means that 400,000 had taught themselves to read before emancipation. Black illiteracy fell to 70% ten years later, meaning that, without government funded schools, despite difficult physical labor and other impediments, another 800,000 educated themselves in the aftermath of the ACW, pre Jim Crow. So 30% of 4 million people (1.2 million) acquired literacy on their own initiative before and immediately after the ACW. Given the weight of Slave Power, that's just huge.TheRavenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11124702548876469474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-56974533712318272902011-06-04T16:27:23.839-05:002011-06-04T16:27:23.839-05:00I am not ..Why is it revelant to anything? The ver...I am not ..Why is it revelant to anything? The very reality that a very insignificant group of enslaved people parroted the inhumanity of their oppressors is not a news flash nor worthy of any scholarly tome...<br /><br />At best it is a defensive and deflective device to that seeks to mitigate the raw truth about white supremacy..From my platform I view the reactions of a people under duress as just that the crude reality of people dealing with the slings and arrows of inhumanity etc..<br /><br />CD can appease this shallow tease but I don't have to....WTFPlane Ideas https://www.blogger.com/profile/13838821721942426785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-10748796626608784222011-06-03T20:32:23.737-05:002011-06-03T20:32:23.737-05:00Looking forward to it.Looking forward to it.nomadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16196543910280589478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-53550619613901479642011-06-03T20:23:40.871-05:002011-06-03T20:23:40.871-05:00@Nomad. Sure, there were black slave holders--very...@Nomad. Sure, there were black slave holders--very few--who were part of the legit planter class. Just as there were black drivers. <br /><br />But, a good many black slave owners did own their own relatives as a means of protecting them. Others not so. The story is complex as you pointed out. I will be doing something on it this weekend as this discussion is very fascinating and could be quite rich for others who may want to chime in.chaunceydevegahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09652406326490873337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-48611075664158773692011-06-03T18:44:53.449-05:002011-06-03T18:44:53.449-05:00Sure. But it was not always so benevolent. Black s...Sure. But it was not always so benevolent. Black slave-owners could be as cruel as whites. A slave was property. And, much like a car today, lots of people wanted to own one. Including some free blacks. Nothing familial about it.nomadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16196543910280589478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-4716127291312666492011-06-03T13:21:17.338-05:002011-06-03T13:21:17.338-05:00@Nomad. I wrote this on Alternet in reply:
Not re...@Nomad. I wrote this on Alternet in reply:<br /><br />Not really. There is a great book I read a few years back called African American slave holders...I believe if memory serves me correct. <br /><br />There is an interesting paradox where you can have a system of white supremacy that blacks and other people of color participate in. Those cases are outliers that are worthy of study. But, they do nothing to subvert the bigger claim about the naked, raw, white supremacist project of American slavery. Also, we have to qualify cases because there were blacks who owned "slaves" who were actually there family members, loved ones, and other kin as a means of free blacks to try to protect their own people. <br /><br />Interesting stuff though. As I said on WARN, do a guest spot.chaunceydevegahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09652406326490873337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-45532229202609704422011-06-02T18:21:44.913-05:002011-06-02T18:21:44.913-05:00Well, all right. Except these blacks were not slav...Well, all right. Except these blacks were not slaves. They were free blacks (mixed) and some were likely slave owners. In order to understand our history we have to come to terms with the role of this intermediate caste of blacks. It would shed some light on today's politics. I left a citation on your Alternet article that I hope you will reflect upon.nomadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16196543910280589478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-8454776781672786622011-06-02T10:20:31.397-05:002011-06-02T10:20:31.397-05:00@Nomad. People are complicated. There were slaves ...@Nomad. People are complicated. There were slaves that would turn runaways and rebels in to white authorities for example. The human mind is complicated. Like any group some of us were cowards, some "pragmatic," and none too few complicit.chaunceydevegahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09652406326490873337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-68437230894925115132011-06-02T10:16:02.724-05:002011-06-02T10:16:02.724-05:00@CD
Excuse my impatience but I'm waiting for a...@CD<br />Excuse my impatience but I'm waiting for an answer to my query.nomadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16196543910280589478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-51655535561730120972011-06-02T09:27:30.022-05:002011-06-02T09:27:30.022-05:00@ TNBW,
I share your objections of course..@ TNBW,<br /><br />I share your objections of course..Plane Ideas https://www.blogger.com/profile/13838821721942426785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-52028738167614601722011-06-02T06:49:32.931-05:002011-06-02T06:49:32.931-05:00@Thrasher: I have a hard time understanding why th...@Thrasher: I have a hard time understanding why that black professor would think a slave re-enactment would serve as a valuable teaching lesson. Would she condone that crap if this were a bunch of black school children forced to reenact the roles of slaves by their teachers? <br /><br />I find it hard to believe that confederate soldiers would even allow black slaves to fight alongside them in their quest for secession. If they allowed slaves to serve in combat, that would require the Confederate soldiers to face the issue of freeing slaves (if they had won the Civil War). Since the Civil War was about southerners maintaining their way of life (slavery, white supremacy, etc.), the myth of blacks fighting for the Confederacy is full of contradictions.The Roving Reporterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16172658008196704643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-60265022256169364572011-06-01T19:22:21.912-05:002011-06-01T19:22:21.912-05:00CD,
The protest did not go far in part because th...CD,<br /><br />The protest did not go far in part because the Professor did not have the passion about the disconnect and insanity of having a slave reenactment attraction in the 90's..She reasoned away it had some merit because the actors are Black and not in black face...<br /><br />Also she was being paid to act as a buffer against people like me who challenged this bullshit..<br /><br />The good professor position in part was because this was an educational excercise it could withstand challenges from people like me..<br /><br />I intentionaly took the position that the reenactments should stop because the hiers of the dead slaves did not give permission nor were compensated ...I used this tatic to navigate around the good professor's educational academic freedom posturing..<br /><br />In the end after I wrote a series of letters to her employers about having a bunch of crazed negroes invading these weekend games of pretend..They continued and I and my group was dismissed..A few other national pundits wrote about it and the drama faded into the sun...Plane Ideas https://www.blogger.com/profile/13838821721942426785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-29554938185436581002011-06-01T17:40:49.989-05:002011-06-01T17:40:49.989-05:00FYI, Chauncey. http://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...FYI, Chauncey. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/memorial-day-parade-includes-tribute-to-the-only-all-black-ranger-unit-in-army-history/2011/05/30/AGL9j0EH_story.html<br /><br />The 2nd Ranger Co., Korea, has been part of my awareness almost since I had a minimal vocabulary.Abstentushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15835338592202401866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-10483160356515953632011-06-01T14:01:15.163-05:002011-06-01T14:01:15.163-05:00I wish I knew how to paste here, but anyway, it wa...I wish I knew how to paste here, but anyway, it was mentioned in the Coates article. "The Native Guard in Louisiana mustered" but were told by the Confederacy "no blacks allowed". Where did that uncoerced desire to join the Confederacy come from?nomadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16196543910280589478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-8362574722924748652011-06-01T12:22:38.838-05:002011-06-01T12:22:38.838-05:00@Thrasher. Share more about the protest and what h...@Thrasher. Share more about the protest and what happened with the black prof who pushed back?<br /><br />@Nomad. Black slaves were just that--human property in the eyes of the CSA. So they could be loaned or leased to the CSA Army.<br /><br />In fact, the CSA resisted allowing black soldiers to serve in the latter years...even as they were losing the war and black confederates could have been of help with their manpower shortage. The black laborers and man servants were in almost all instances that I have seen--and if others have more specifics please share--"escorting" i.e. still in bondage to the white man/family which sent someone off to war.chaunceydevegahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09652406326490873337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-4037546847119512742011-06-01T12:04:08.299-05:002011-06-01T12:04:08.299-05:00The idea of the black Confederate Soldier in comba...The idea of the black Confederate Soldier in combat is (probably) a myth; except maybe for those that felt compelled to fight alongside their masters. But how do you account for the desire of some blacks (slaves?) to join the Confederacy?nomadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16196543910280589478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-32840315859390425282011-06-01T07:23:50.629-05:002011-06-01T07:23:50.629-05:00Decades agO I launched a letter protest against th...Decades agO I launched a letter protest against the annual Williamsbug, VA slavey auction reenactment...My primary protest theme was that those orchestrating this insanity did not get the permission of the dead slaves to exploit them for money( the revenues generated from these offensive vacation special attactions)etc..<br /><br />To my surprise I encountered major pushback from the Black Professsor who has hired to oversee the attraction for authencity etc..<br /><br />After we chase down these Black Confederate Apologists..I have another group to target as well....Plane Ideas https://www.blogger.com/profile/13838821721942426785noreply@blogger.com