fiestada

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0..._n_527363.html

Dewey

Sons of Confederate veterans and United Daughters of the Confederacy are still active in Alexandria, VA. I visited the UDC museum last fall, and the photographs, bullet riddled uniforms, bloodstained stretcher, pikes, and testimonies from the survivors make it clear this was originally set up as a friendly society by veterans who survived the horror to care for the needs of fellow veterans. Alexandria has a well integrated museum system with a good black history museum, bike rides out to the Fort's that formed the defences of Washington, and the civil servants that look after the historic sites are not lost cause myth makers/R.E.Lee worshippers. Now the reenactor crowd are another thing altogether - read Confederates in the Attic for a good overview. I do think the governor's proclamation should have included at least some mention of slavery, there's a good civil war museum at historic tredegar, in Richmond, that tries to tell the story from all sides.

chrisfromusa

Oh that's only because the governor is only telling it from the side of the Confederacy, not the North. Can't blame him for it, he's a proud Southerner who'd rather tell it from the Confederacy viewpoint, just like a proud Northerner would tell it like it is from the Northern point of view. Is either side correct? In my view, nope. In my view, the war was just as much about slavery as it was states' rights.

fiestada

perhaps this proclamation will spark a seccionist proclamation in northern virginia

Michael

"States Rights" was the code word for segregation in the 20th century.

Rete

I think it should have as well. But from reading about it on CNN it would appear that he left it out so as not to offend but, of course, it did.

Talking about it does not mean you condone it. It is history. It is fact. It can't be hidden and shouldn't be hidden. No more than the horror of the Nazi programs against Jews, Gypsies, Poles, etc. in WWII. History will only repeat itself if it is ignored and no one learns from it.

Dewey

I agree Rete, and it seems the Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission agree too. They are holding a conference in Norfolk in September to talk about race, slavery, and the civil war. I recognize James McPherson on the speaker list, his book the Battle Cry of Freedom is a good one volume history.

chrisfromusa

The way things are in this world, I think everyone eventually forgets what happened in the past. We as humans are pretty dumb when it comes to learning from our past mistakes like the U.S. repealing the Glass-Steagal Act

Dewey

Governor McDonnell has apologized for the omission and inserted a new paragraph to his proclamation.

Englishtart

Hubby texted me this morning, all excited because he is going to Fort Sumpter on Saturday, for the 149th Anniversary of the start of the Civil war He is so lucky to have a job that is also his hobby

fiestada

seriously

hopefully I can get close to that oneday

fiestada

any feelings on this as a northern virginian lol? Is this why you all don't say you are from virginia when people ask you??? (not sure about you personally)
I remember a politician comparing the nova burbs to the boston burbs.

Mallory

Better get the spelling right before you come down - Fort Sumter!

cranston

Wrong, just plain wrong, you are ignoring all the major evidence.

Dewey

What are my feelings on the governor's declaration, his hasty apology, that the issues are still being debated by sensible historian types, the fact the SCV and UDC are still around? I can't get riled up about this because while I now live in Virginia I am British and none of my ancestors emigrated to the US before me or had historical property interests here so this is not my heritage being celebrated/denigrated. But I do think Disney's attempt to build a civil war theme-park near Haymarket Virginia in the 1990's was a tad insensitive.