If you tell me who your ancestors were, I might be able to tell you about them, as could many of the other professional scholars on this list who have studied Virginia all our lives. We could certainly tell you about the context of the world in which they lived. Having read thousands of documents on Virginia history and hundreds or more court cases, I might even have read about your ancestors. Respecting your anscestors would not require me to paint over what they did or did not do. It would rather require that I honestly assess what they did and how they lived their lives. You might not like the assessment. If your ancestor was Thomas Jefferson you might not like it if I discussed the 85 or so slaves he sold in the 1790s; or the fact that he enslaved his own children. If your ancestor shot black soldiers at Fort Pillow after the surrendered and then mutilated them, or were officers who watched this happen, you might not like that. If your ancestors took an oath the defend the United States and then made war on the United States and I pointed out that most people consider that to be treaon, you might not like that. But this would not be disrespectful. It would only indicate that I respect your ancestors enough to take them seriously, to study them, and understand their world. How odd it is to think that the purpose of history is to "respect" rather than understand; to praise, rather than investigate; to worship ancestors rather than to find out what they did. Imagine if this were a German history list and we were studying World War II; would you be complaining that we were talking about the bombing of Rotterdam after it declared itself and open city? Would you be complaining that it is unfair to your ancestors to talk about using slave labor to build war materials? Perhaps you would since the implication of this post is that we should talk about things like the use of slave labor in Virginia. Finally, I should dd that the history of Virginia is a complex history that includes the 40% of the state and their descendants who were held as slaves in 1775; it includes the many Virginians who fought to preserve the Union, such at Generals WInfield Scott and George Thomas (the Rock of Chickamunga). They too were Virginians. Paul Finkelman President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy Albany Law School 80 New Scotland Avenue Albany, New York 12208-3494 518-445-3386 [log in to unmask] >>> [log in to unmask] 02/14/07 7:25 PM >>> This is a Virginia history list, not a Maryland or Pennsylvania or Florida or Nebraska history list. Please respect Virginia history as you would that of your own state. And please respect my ancestors whom you know nothing about, and I will respect yours whom I know nothing about. ___________________ Donald W. Moore Virginia Beach, Virginia To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html