Slavery and Public History: The Tough Stuff of American Memory Paperback – Illustrated, February 1, 2008

Wow! I got this book for research but instead of just researching bits out of the book I read it, and I couldn't put it down! Slavery is a dark spot on our nations history, but we have to learn to come together as a society to discuss it openly and fairly. Slavery defined race in America, and it created the racial divide we have today. We will never heal the discord in our country until we learn to come to grips with its root cause. This, this book, is a great starting point to beginning that discussion.

This simi-autobiographical story of Walter Lenoir brings the period before, during, and after the Civil War to life. Told through journal entries laced together by the author using careful research and other primary sources this great little book helps us understand the hard decisions that were made during the Civil War. Why volunteer to fight for the Confederates cause if you profess to be against slavery? Why would one brother choose to fight for the North while another would choose the South? An interesting look into these and many other issues that illustrate the Civil War era.

Slavery and Public History: The Tough Stuff of American Memory is a collection of essays about the dilemmas of race, slavery, and the public memory of slavery. The first three essays are high-altitude assessments. Ira Berlin begins with a history of slavery and explains the importance of this history, and memories of this history, to contemporary debates about race. David Blight examines the relationship between history and memory and warns that historians cannot afford to discount the power that collective memory hold in group and cultural identification. John Horton concludes with an examination of the limitations and challenges to discussion of slavery in educational and public history settings. The subsequent essays move in for a closer look at contemporary resistance to a more accurate history of slavery and individual case studies of attempts to incorporate the story of slavery into existing sites.David Blight’s essay on the interplay between memory and history is one of the strongest in the collection, bringing in an inter-disciplinary perspective to the question. His primary sources include St. Augustine, W.E.B. DuBois, and Frederick Douglas, seeking their perspective on memory. An important secondary source is sociologist Maurice Hablwachs’ “The Collective Memory,” which analyzes the relationship of individual and collective memory and explores how it is used to create and change cultural identity. Memory and Identity: The History of a Relationship, by John R. Gillis continues the discussion in terms of national identity. Cynthia Ozick, in Metaphor and Memory, warns that history can be weak in the face of myth and its oracles; historians cannot ignore the risks of avoiding engagement and thus abandoning the field to the inspirations of Delphi.The case studies were useful as starting points for discussion; it would be interesting to follow up to see how things stand a decade after publication of this book. Has progress been made; if so, how and why have these sites succeeded? In a similar vein, has the SCV’s interpretation adapted to new information – and if not, why?

This is history that is difficult to interpret but I believe we have a responsibility to do just that. History cannot be just the great heroes and the nice stuff. Dr. Horton is a scholar and a teacher who helps bring to light the truth and history should always be about the truth. Whether people like it or not we must do our best to tell the real story.

The book is as good as a new one. I like it and I will give five stars for it.

Extremely helpful thoughts

The chapters covered different aspects of slavery from the history of slavery, to Sally Jennings, American struggles support, reject, or understand slavery. Stories about the good fortune of being enslaved in the US were concocted without imput from the enslaved. While the characterization of slaves is displayed on books and movies such as Gone with the Wind is a common fantasy, learning about slavery at antebellum homes and Civil War sites challenges our ability to understand slavery and its current and continued impact on American culture. We are hundreds of years behind in addressing slavery.

A must read!!!