Anne and All,

  David Blight's new book (title?) addresses your question nicely.
The final resolution of the old Blue v. Gray animosity into a white
supremacist revisionist interpretation of the War appears to have
done the trick.  This surely simplifies Blight's complex argument,
but the exclusion of black participation in the War as well as
downgrading the significance of slavery as a fatal marker of
divergence between North and South, made the struggle of the
1950s and 1960s necessary.  This is a historical trajectory that
perhaps will repeat itself soon.
  I must quibble though with your statement that history is a social
science.  It is often organized with the social sciences in
secondary schools and community colleges, but history generally
lacks the methodology and the social sciences.  It is, alas or
hooray, a deep dyed portion of the humanities.

Date sent:              Sun, 02 Mar 2003 13:53:52 -0500
From:                   Anne Pemberton <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:                Re: "The Victor gets to write the history;" Virginia history, 1880-1930
To:                     [log in to unmask]
Send reply to:          Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
        <[log in to unmask]>

> 2 + 2 = 100 in base 3
>
> History is one part of the Social Studies, which is one of the four basic
> academics we teach in schools. Included in Social Studies are Geography,
> History, Government (and Civics) and Economics. Of these, economics
> probably receives the least attention in classrooms, IMHO. Geography is
> only as good as the maps available to the class and the frequency with
> which the teacher uses them. Learning history depends on telling a good
> story. Government is the last social studies class of the high school
> curriculum and goes into as much depth as the teacher and her resources
> provide. Economics has objectives in elementary school, but in high school
> is only included in the vocational tracks.
>
> Like you New York friend, I too found much more interest and attention to
> the Civil War after moving to Virginia. It wasn't that big a deal growing
> up in PA. When the civil rights activities in the South began to hit the
> evening news in PA, I was learning about the important documents of our
> nation including the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and
> the workings of Government to fulfill those documents. I remember almost
> dismissing the evening news as impossible in our country, until I moved to
> Richmond on the heals of the repeal of the Jim Crow laws and experiencing
> the aftermath.
>
> My history questions for this lovely Sunday is: What aspects of the Civil
> War led to the Civil Rights Era? Was there anything that should have been
> handled better to avoid it requiring more than 100 years for all races and
> genders to be considered equal citizens and equal human beings? What are
> have we really learned from the Civil War?
>
>                                      Anne
>
>
> Anne Pemberton
> [log in to unmask]
>
> http://www.erols.com/stevepem
> http://www.educationalsynthesis.org
>
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Harold S. Forsythe
Assistant Professor History
Director:  Black Studies
Fairfield University
Fairfield, CT 06430-5195
(203) 254-4000  x2379

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