The Civil War Sesquicentennial Network on Facebook recently showcased a National Park Service video about Civil War sites associated with the Civil Rights struggle. Called "Civil War Through Civil Rights: Our Nation's Journey," it's been on Youtube for about two weeks now.
It's a beautifully done video in the NPS tradition of such things; no doubt no expense was spared in its creation. Watching it on Youtube is an emotional experience that makes me love this country so much the more. Only in America could such a revolution of rights succeed.
The video is part of an NPS emphasis to interpret the War of Rebellion as part of the Civil Rights struggle because it ended slavery. The tilt toward the interpretation of the conflict as being mainly about slavery has been spurred on for years by Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D.-Ill.) The leftist congressman made this his special project some say to lay the groundwork for the governemnt to pay the descendants of slaves reparations. A plan that would be perhaps the largest redistribution of wealth in human history.
Over time the stated motives have been moving targets as elusive as the monitor fleet in Charleston Harbor. At first, the new interpretative initiative was simply to be more inclusive. The idea was it would attract more black families to Civil War sites administered by the NPS. While that seems a noble idea, it has not worked out that way. No doubt the new emphasis has given more perspective, meaning and even emotion to the interpretation of Civil War parks, regardless of Rep. Jackson's ulterior motives.
Some comments on Youtube about the video hit home with me. Two comments have since been removed though they were in no way spam or vulgar. They were simply silenced because they criticized the government's presentation. It's frightening to think some functionary monitors Youtube posts and has the gall to censor them. Anyway, one commenter said the presentation leaned to the left, and that is true. In my own experience, the historians relied upon by the Park Service are hard left academics like Eric Foner. Another commenter said the presentation was all blue, meaning no Confederate sites or monuments were included.
On first blush this might seem an accurate portrayal. No southerner could have possibly done anything to advance Civil Rights during the Civil War, right? In Soldiers Just Like You I prove this idea wrong. One of the greatest Civil Rights trial of the century occurred in Charleston in 1863 and it was heard in a Confederate court. The soldiers of the 54th Massachusetts who were captured at the Battle of Battery Wagner never imagined they could get a fair trial in a southern court of white men, but they did. The question was: Are these men slaves in rebellion or Union soldiers due the rights of prisoners of war? The stakes were high; death or a return to slavery. As I chronicle in the book, the rule of law held firm against slavery and racism.
And the fair hearing sorted itself out long before the NAACP, Thurgood Marshall, or the Messieurs Jackson appeared on the scene. I can only hope that the NPS finds a middle course through the political mindfields that are attempting to high-jack the interpretation of history to fit a redistributive agenda.
