Difference between revisions of "471A3--Week 3 Questions/Comments--Thursday"
From McClurken Wiki
Wtimmons1861 (Talk | contribs) |
|||
| Line 2: | Line 2: | ||
Writing served as an outlet and an avenue of memorialization of the war for veteran soldiers. Do you think the soldiers' memories of the War that were published tainted the meaning or significance of their memories? --MK | Writing served as an outlet and an avenue of memorialization of the war for veteran soldiers. Do you think the soldiers' memories of the War that were published tainted the meaning or significance of their memories? --MK | ||
| + | |||
| + | How do you think veterans reacted to the publishing of ''Miss Ravenal's Conversion from Secession to Loyalty''? Blight notes that the piece did not sell well, but I wonder what reactions people had towards it. -ABratchie | ||
On page 73 Blight says that “Americans now had a defining past of mythic battles.” Why was the Revolutionary War pretty much ignored as a source of “mythic battles” for the United States and the Civil War so popularized? –Megan Mc | On page 73 Blight says that “Americans now had a defining past of mythic battles.” Why was the Revolutionary War pretty much ignored as a source of “mythic battles” for the United States and the Civil War so popularized? –Megan Mc | ||
| + | |||
| + | Blight quotes the ''New York Herald'' on page 87, "The man whose memory dates back over a month is voted a bore, and accused of being interested in ancient history." This was the tone the paper wished for the Memorial Day set to happen May 30, 1877 in New York City. How do you think veterans of the war felt after reading this type of statement? Was it that easy to forget personal memories of the Civil War? -ABratchie | ||
| + | |||
| + | Blight says “Civil War memorialization should not be used for political purposes among the children born since the war.” (Pg94) However, six presidents elected were veterans of the war. How might they have used this in their campaign as the forms of memorialization changed in the decades after the war? –Megan Mc. | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | I thought the story about Governor Kemper and Jubal Early was interesting. In 1875 during a huge celebration in Richmond, Early told Governor Kemper that he did not want blacks at the festivities during Memorial Day. Kemper was going to ignore him but still complied a little by have the black people walk at the back of the parade and alleviated the Virginia General Assembly from taking part, a group that had a few black members in it. Blight then talks about how Early used this strategy as a way to erase blacks from confederate memory. Do you think alleviating them from this celebration could have led to them being erased from Confederate memory? Why do you think the Governor did not ignore Early fully and allow black people to participate in all the celebrations? -Avanness | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | Roger Pryor made a speech in 1877 about how the war had nothing to do with slavery. He claimed that slavery "just went away like the change in the weather" (pg. 91). He further said that no Southerner fought to save slaveryt nor did any Northerner end it. Do you think this argument would have been powerful enough that Northern and Southern citizens would have agreed to them? How common do you think this rhetoric was? -Avanness | ||
| + | |||
| + | Blight makes it clear that both Union and Confederate histories of the war were published and read throughout the country. Why the did the Southern version become the one most accepted? --R.King | ||
| + | |||
| + | What part did Decoration/Memorial Day play in the Civil War being remembered in a reconciliation view? --R.King | ||
| + | |||
| + | The episode that occurred in Richmond during the unveiling of the Stonewall Jackson memorial demonstrated the roles black southerners were to play in the Lost Cause narrative. On page 83 Blight says, “the only blacks who formally participated were a contingent of former slave workers who had been in the Stonewall Brigade during the war,” and this group was positioned at the very end of a long parade. How does this episode represent the popular amnesia or reremembering process that took place across the South following the war? -Erin B. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Robert E. Lee spoke urged the nation to "not keep open the sores of war" (149). Was this unique among southerners? - Erin B. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Within the first 20 years after the Civil War ended, Memorial Days became days of reconciliation for many Americans but days of great distress for those who felt the South should not have been forgiven. How does this struggle represent the different memories people had about why the war was fought in the first place? - Angie | ||
| + | |||
| + | Blight talks about how newspapers began publishing the war stories of individual soldiers after the War. He also says that much of the space was given to Southerners as opposed to Northerners. Why were people more interested in reading the stories of the South? - Angie | ||
| + | |||
| + | I found that Sarah Rice Pryor's memorial day speeches to be very shocking since she did not hesitate discussing the issue of race, when the majority of memorial day orators would refrain from doing so. He believed that the war had nothing to do with slavery, and overall that slavery it was good as it lasted, good once it was gone; no southern fought in its defense, and no northern died to end it. I disagree with Pryor that the North did fight to end slavery and was also surprised by his statements since he was from the North.- Nick | ||
| + | |||
| + | It is important to remember the atrocities that soldiers on both sides endured during the war. Some endured long term stays in prison, others lost limbs in the war, and others had acquired mental problems that would plague them throughout their lives. These were some of the memories that would form Civil War veterans' memories concerning the war.-Nick | ||
| + | |||
| + | On page 89, Blight says, "On these landscapes of Civil War Memory, devotion to the Lost Cause had already gained a special place in the American imagination- the alleged nobility of losers in a desperate struggle carried an enduring fascination in an age increasingly characterized by cynical politics, amoral machines, and the impersonal leviathan of industrialization." Already, African Americans were being left out of the conversation, replaced by the soldiers themselves. Does anyone else see this quote as indicative of Blight's overall thesis?- DRadtke | ||
| + | |||
| + | On page 149, Blight reveals that Lee seemed to think it wiser to speed the process of reconciliation than to dwell on the cost of war. Today, Lee enjoys a "god-like status." I've heard him described as the "greatest general in history." So how did he depart from the Southern rhetoric of the postwar era and still be remembered as favorably as he is?- DRadtke | ||
| + | |||
| + | Why is Memorial Day often said to be founded as a Confederate holiday. Is this another fight over Civil War memory? Why was Jubal Early so influential among ex confederate generals when his military career was checkered? Was it simply because he had the loudest voice? Logan T | ||
| + | |||
| + | Why was there no backlash to the idea of war after the Civil War like there was after Vietnam? The Civil War saw more death and had a more direct effect on the people. It like Vietnam had a new media to be viewed in the form of the photograph. Was it because there was a strong since of right on both sides? Why did veterans focus on defending there roles in the war. Was it just a different culture? Logan T | ||
