Jamestown Settlement is trying to be more inclusive and accurate.
It's tough to be both "pc" and truthful.
Here is some of the online curriculum materials:
http://www.historyisfun.org/Curriculum-Materials.htm
--
Melinda C. P. Skinner
Richmond, VA
-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Anita Wills <[log in to unmask]>
> You hit the nail on the head, well said.
>
> Anita
>
>
> >From: [log in to unmask]
> >Reply-To: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
> > <[log in to unmask]>
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: Re: Official Opposition Events
> >Date: Fri, 11 May 2007 12:34:20 -0400
> >
> >The implication here is that the "original sin" of slavery
> >rests with Africans, as if that somehow lets everyone else who
> >profited from the enslavement of African peoples off the hook.
> > But framed that way, the argument is silly. Human nature
> >being what it is, its not all that surprising that African
> >peoples bear their share of guilt for the historical thriving
> >of the institution. Every market transaction requires buyers
> >and sellers, and both parties in a transaction expect to
> >benefit from it. If the transaction is morally evil, both are
> >implicated in it.
> >
> >The fact that some African nations participated in slavery and
> >bear share of the historical responsibility for it does not
> >change the fact that, with very rare exceptions, pretty much
> >ALL of the victims of the institution were African or Native
> >American. The ancestors of a great many of the victimized
> >families live in Africa. The forced migration of ten million
> >or so people, a substantial portion of whom were worked to
> >death in Caribbean plantations, is a historical evil.
> >Moreover, slavery still exists in the world, so this
> >particular evil is not yet an artifact of history. Under
> >these circumstances, it is not at all unreasonable to suggest
> >that representatives of those African polities whose citizens
> >are the descendants of people victimized by slavery should be
> >present to bear witness at Jamestown.
> >
> >We should pause to ponder just why slavery is evil. Slavery
> >certainly can involve harsh suffering and physical
> >deprivation. But while those things are awful, it is not
> >primarily in the physical suffering that the evil of slavery
> >resides. Slavery, as Orlando Patterson noted long ago,
> >demands the social death of the slave. As a consequence,
> >slavery, by its nature, strips the slave of autonomy and the
> >capacity for self-definition and self-government.
> >
> >For citizens of the United States of America, slavery is
> >especially problematic. As American thinkers have long
> >understood, the continued survival of the American polity
> >depends upon the continued public commitment of self-governed
> >citizens. The promise of the American polity is ordered
> >liberty--freedom, rightly understood, constrained by right
> >reason. The antithesis of slavery is this fundamental
> >American good: liberty. It is possible, of course, to
> >reconcile slavery with American republican values, by denying
> >the slave's full capacity for self-government. But we know
> >today that this attempt to reconcile slavery with American
> >public ideals is premised on a lie--that racism has no basis
> >in reality.
> >
> >There can be no moral harm in asking slavery's victims to bear
> >witness to its depravity. But there are especially profound
> >reasons for American citizens, of whatever genetic or cultural
> >background, to bear witness as well. The salutary good that
> >comes from so doing is to remind ourselves, collectively and
> >as a people, what it is that we stand for. In condemning
> >slavery, we affirm the deepest and most valued commitments of
> >our public order.
> >
> >All best,
> >Kevin
> >
>
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