Tuesday Treasure: The War Between the States скачать в хорошем качестве

Tuesday Treasure: The War Between the States

As modern historians, we try to examine history in a holistic way. We look at all sides, we examine all perspectives. To do this, we use primary source information and fact-based story telling. Unlike in the past, where history was the story of the victors, we strive to talk about history in neutral terms presenting artifacts from an earlier time objectively in order to inform our decisions in the future. A saber, an officer's sash, an archival document, a photograph. But current events have made it clear that in order to gain a truly holistic picture of the past we must put neutrality aside. We must examine our failures. We must admit to them and to the fact that those failures have informed the times in which we live today—times that are too often unjust and inequitable. Our program today is about local involvement in the Civil War. It is springboard to deeper understanding of not just the war itself but all it wrought: Jim Crow, Segregation, the Civil Rights movement and protests happening today, right now, even as you are tuning in. By June of 1861, eleven states had succeeded from the Union, separating over the long controversy of slavery, and bringing about the bloodiest conflict our country has ever seen. Over 620,000 Americans died before the surrender in April of 1865. Our history books tell us that the war ended in May of 1865, that slavery and inequality had been vanquished and that Union soldiers unilaterally were the freedom fighters of the republic. We know this is false. Numerous objects in our own collection tell us that union enlistment was often nothing more than a financial proposition. Here in Westport there remained continued segregation of students, discrimination against home ownership and violence against those who are judged purely on the basis of the color of their skin, rather than “by the content of their character.” The objects we are sharing today—a Gettysburg bayonet, a toy cannon, a dagger— tell us about a fictionalized path of glory. The men and women, black and white, who served during the war between the states, and every conflict afterwards, should be honored but also reflected upon and examined. To truly put America first, we must all be willing to look at ourselves and our actions. Americans are flooding the street—as are others across the globe-- to affirm that the failure of the American experiment of allowing inequality and racism to continue will be tolerated no more. More than that, they are reminding us all of how far we have yet to go. #Westport #CivilWar #AmericanHistory