Very well written and thought provoking. As a layperson historian myself, I
believe all persons no matter their sex or race strive to live free. Some
slaves were brave and strong enough to break their chains of slavery and
realize they could live a better life some place else other than on the
plantations as a slave. Who really was the first person to think this and
do it? Will we really ever know? But the ones we know about should have
their histories told. Because it is an American story. Every person who
comes here whether it is from an immigrant ship landing in Jamestown, New
Netherland, Plymouth Rock, Ellis Island, or coming across the boarder
illegally or escaping slavery in the south have a similar reason - they are
not free, but they want to be free to live their lives the way they choose
to live. Breaking free from slavery on our southern farms and plantations,
no matter how they did it, is an under told story of our history that truly
needs more research and needs to be taught, because they too are our
"hundled masses yearning to be free".

And on that note regarding more research being needed. Should future Civil
War anniversarys also make us want to understand why the white southerners
felt the need to erect such humongous statues of their Confederate
ancestors? I certainly don't understand why they felt that need to do that.
But did they feel their history was being erased as well? I simply cringe
when I ride up & down I 81 and see the Confederate battle flag flying in
the breeze that is about the size of a barn. Do these descendants still
feel their history is being erased? I don't know. But we'd better find out.
Because whether we feel a group a people are right or wrong, as historians
we should still try to interpret them, research them, and teach about them.
Because as the old cliché goes, "those who refuse to learn the lessons of
history are doom to repeat them" or something like that. And division is
stronger right now in this country than I have ever seen it. Even stronger
than the turbulent 1960's, I feel.

As a child in the 1960's I remember driving past the large Confederate
statues in Charlottesville and Richmond and thinking to myself "holy crap!
who are they?" Of course, my dad (the lay historian who influenced me) told
me they  were famous "rebel" soldiers. We called them rebels in western
Maryland were I grew up. I wondered why they erected statues of "rebels",
who to this day I still feel are responsible for the Civil War. In my
opinion if Virginia wouldn't have succeeded and those famous "rebel"
soldiers in those statues would have stayed with the US army, there would
have been no Gettysburg, Antetium, Wilderness, no Andersonville prison were
my own ancestor was force into slavery to build his own slave quarters and
is buried in one of the many unmarked graves there.

So when revisioning history for the next Civil War anniversary, please
remember to revision those people who erected those statues because people
like me still look at their ancestors as traitors and rebels. We can't help
it, because no one has shown us a reason not to. And we, descendants of
"enslavers", but also descendants of "non slavers", want to understand our
own past and want our "why" questions answered. And in my opinion, only
really good historians who are super good at revisioning can help us feel
united as an American people all seeking a better life for ourselves and
our families. And in that we are one people, who share the same histories.
The histories of our "huddled masses yearning to be free".

And don't forget some people never learned what you were taught in the
1960's so don't just leave that part out when revisioning either. <wink>

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