Once upon a Journey into the South

Week 7 readings

The Power of Place:

Biddy Mason image courtesy of
Hidden Los Angeles

     As Professor Cebula said, the section on Biddy Mason was a more engaging read than the first half of the Dolores Hayden book. It follows the process by which Hayden and her crew from The Power of Place created the landmark for Biddy Mason. Mason was a fascinating historical figure. A slave in the late 1850s and early 1860s that found her way to Los Angeles who there started a new life as midwife and founded a church in urban L.A. The wall that Hayden and her crew from The Power of Place built in honor of Biddy Mason had impressions on it of various things from her past that I thought was a cool and unique way to make an interactive connection with the viewing audience.



Confederates in the Attic:
     I read this book years ago and forgot, over the course of time how much I enjoyed it. It follows the journey of Tony Horwitz from his time as a correspondent/freelance writer overseas to the deep South in search of current Confederate sympathizer. What Horwitz is examining can be summed up when he is in Salisbury, North Carolina. He ends up, through a series of strange circumstances, at a gathering for the Sons and Daughters of the Confederacy. While he is first learning about the meeting, the man that he is talking to tells him, "In school, I remember learning that the Civil War ended a long time ago...Folks here don't always see it that way. They think it's still half-time" (22). These various people that he talks to throughout his journey seem to have similar opinions. He goes through the Carolinas, Kentucky, and Virginia and everyone seems to not be just studying the past, but trying to relive it or revive it. As anyone who has ever visited the South can attest, they believe that the "Southern Cause" was just and must be kept alive. When Horwitz is in Charleston, he feels like they kept the Old South alive while places like Atlanta went to a more "Northern" feel. Is it a good thing for the South to keep this image of defiance? Is it healthy for the descendants of a "defeated people" to still be harboring the ideals of a hundred and fifty-two years ago? Probably not, but no one should forget their heritage and where they came from, only people from the South take it above and beyond....or do they?

Web Readings and Misc:
     The article about the falsification of the two photos blew my mind. Well maybe I shouldn't go that far, it was funny more than anything how people clearly distorted and cropped a photo in order to give a visual example of black men fighting for the Confederacy. The next article I read about the white man in the Shenandoah was enlightening because he actually lived the conflict during the War of Northern Aggression. It was also a good example of Southern ignorance about slavery when he was making the case that most slaves were fine with being slaves and were treated well...except for the part where those people were SLAVES. The final article made a good point of showing that we focus on the Euro-American history in this country and we neglect most all other histories of people, not just American slavery, in preference of our own history.
Finally, this week's website was for The Sons of ConfederateVeterans. This site, much like that of the DAR or other such groups, allows for people to register if their ancestors were a part of one of the Confederate armies. You can search your genealogy through the website to see if you qualify, and you can also locate graves through their grave site registry. Professor Cebula wanted us to find their opinion on slavery in the war, and here it is.