Civil War Museum CEO: “This War Is Not As Simple As People Would Like to Make It”

[Belle Montgomery]

https://www.kcra.com/article/civil-...mple-as-people-would-like-to-make-it/22761685

 

[luinrina]

Grmpf, I'm not allowed to see the article's content in Germany. The curse of living oversea...

But, fortunately, I found this video:

I believe it's basically the same as the article?

I'm surprised the CEO of the Civil War Museum is an African-American, but it's great to see how much passion she has for history and how much she wants to educate the people about the past, about the reasons why North and South went to war with each other.

I'm looking forward to visiting the museum next summer.

 

[BlueandGrayl]

Grmpf, I'm not allowed to see the article's content in Germany. The curse of living oversea...

But, fortunately, I found this video:

I believe it's basically the same as the article?

I'm surprised the CEO of the Civil War Museum is an African-American, but it's great to see how much passion she has for history and how much she wants to educate the people about the past, about the reasons why North and South went to war with each other.

I'm looking forward to visiting the museum next summer.

I would agree with ther words it's far more than just the basics we've been taught.

 

[Drew]

Wow, just wow...

 

[jgoodguy]

I would agree with ther words it's far more than just the basics we've been taught.

How so?

 

[Belle Montgomery]

How so?

IMHO it's motive.
Soldiers on both sides, as she so eloquently brought up by referring to the draft, fought for causes that I believe some didn't even fully understand. Both sides had soldiers that were NOT true believers but fought anyway for various reasons like a paycheck, food, pride of their ancestral homeland, the draft etc.
She is a very brave and intelligent woman to bring up the fact that there are many layers of the onion!

 

[unionblue]

An onion is one thing with many layers making up it's body and texture.

You can't confuse it with any other vegetable as it is what it is, no matter how many layers you peel away.

People instantly know it is an onion, no matter which layer they consume.

 

[Belle Montgomery]

An onion is one thing with many layers making up it's body and texture.

You can't confuse it with any other vegetable as it is what it is, no matter how many layers you peel away.

People instantly know it is an onion, no matter which layer they consume.

?

 

[WJC]

I'm surprised the CEO of the Civil War Museum is an African-American

Why? Blacks had a big stake- perhaps the biggest- in the American Civil War. And as we have seen, Black soldiers were instrumental in the eventual outcome.

 

[Drew]

Why? Blacks had a big stake- perhaps the biggest- in the American Civil War. And as we have seen, Black soldiers were instrumental in the eventual outcome.

Not really. Immigrant cannon fodder were far more instrumental. Black soldiers were not allowed at the front line, with certain exceptions.

Did they do their duty? Yes, of course. Please do not use the internet to re-write history in a way that makes folks happy.

 

[19thGeorgia]

Not really. Immigrant cannon fodder were far more instrumental. Black soldiers were not allowed at the front line, with certain exceptions.

Did they do their duty? Yes, of course. Please do not use the internet to re-write history in a way that makes folks happy.

Germans- 216,000 (8% of the Union army)
USCT- 180,000 (7% ")
Irish- over 150,000 (6% ")

 

[unionblue]

Germans- 216,000 (8% of the Union army)
USCT- 180,000 (7% ")
Irish- over 150,000 (6% ")

Nearly 4 million slaves.

 

[huskerblitz]

I'm surprised the CEO of the Civil War Museum is an African-American, but it's great to see how much passion she has for history and how much she wants to educate the people about the past, about the reasons why North and South went to war with each other.

I recently visited the museum and came away very impressed. I don't care what race or gender the CEO is, they are doing a great job with the displays and information. She also seems to have a good grasp of both the history and collective memory of the war. I don't have any experience with the museum prior to her arrival, but I think she was a great hire.

 

[ScottMac]

An onion is one thing with many layers making up it's body and texture.

You can't confuse it with any other vegetable as it is what it is, no matter how many layers you peel away.

People instantly know it is an onion, no matter which layer they consume.

Maybe this short essay will help you to better understand the onion metaphor.

The Seven Veils of the Onion

By John D. Casnig

The onion is an illuminating bulb. But only by peeling its many layers, can one reveal whether it has a sweet heart or a rotten core. Suspense: thy metaphor is onion!

The onion is used metaphorically to describe sequentially removable layers that conceal an important something. That is, when we use a metaphor involving an onion - such as "peeling away another layer" - we visualize a central concept (a heart or core) that is buried beneath an organized series of increasingly central issues or arguments.

One progresses inward in understanding from surface issues to deeper truths. When we "get to the bottom" of something - finding its "root" or "kernel" of truth - we are finally exposing that which is most shielded from view. This differs from "opening one's eyes" or "letting some fresh air in", in that the onion offers a series of seemingly valid mistruths, rather than a singular misconception. This also differs from a "higher truth" in that each step in a heightened understanding does not totally invalidate the prior; rather, it reveals that it was simply incomplete.

There is nothing of material value between each layer of a metaphorical onion: it is treated as skin upon skin, fortification upon fortification. When an "onion of a story" is formed, we beckon for that certain something that one is "hiding from us", "not letting us in on", "not disclosing" or "not revealing". We will approach the matter "from another angle", in the hopes that this will reveal underlyingissues or help us gain further insight. And we may often angrily say "chaff!" when rejecting a given unwanted layer, as if an onion is a scintilla of nutritious truth surrounded by unwanted, unpalatable, irritating dross. In the onion metaphor, that which is not deemed the central truth has no lasting value.

The difference in metaphorical tone between a "shell", and its singular breakable encapsulation, and "onion" and its many concentric strippable encapsulations, is one of simple fortification versus duplicity. Compare the "just under the surface" nature of a hidden truth behind such metaphors as "blanket", "cover", "veneer" or "shield" with the intrigue offered by the many layers of an onion, each layer a wee bit "closer to the truth". There is far more suspense to the Dance of the Seven Veils than there is to a towel falling off.

The onion is commonly used as both a metaphor and a simile, with little - if any - difference in the example it sets. It is emptied of its strong flavor, medicinal value or tear-causing reputation and used as an exclusively geometric form.

Unlike many fruity metaphors, the onion is not used as if bearing a central nutrition or seed of life under a simple, necessary level of protection, but rather as a series of false cores, the end of which is likely to offer a truth that is often not so palatable. While the veils of a strip-tease may necessitate a journey through undesirable layers towards the desirable beautiful core, an ugly corporate secret may be veiled away beneath layer upon layer of progressively less-beautiful mistruths. The duality of the veil is that it can both uglify the beautiful and beautify the ugly. The veil is that layer of onion - flimsy and translucent enough to beg for a deeper investigation.

The onion, then, describes the progression, rather than the destination; requiring a separate tone to distinguish the nature or value of the destination itself. It is a road - a choppy road to an uncertain, secluded destination. Whether a journey along this road results in good news or in bad news, it always results in truth, however dicey.

The onion is the stripper of metaphors - layer upon layer of mystique with no certain end. The truth is, it is the journey to the core that makes the tease.

 

[luinrina]

Why? Blacks had a big stake- perhaps the biggest- in the American Civil War. And as we have seen, Black soldiers were instrumental in the eventual outcome.

I'm surprised because I hadn't expected an African-American in such a position. I'm a bit confused about whether it's only today called the American Civil War Museum and the historic name is the Museum of the Confederacy, or if the latter is a site of the former (the other sites being the White House of the Confederacy and the Appomattox museum, and all three together forming the American Civil War Museum), but either way, I would have thought that African-Americans wouldn't want to be associated with a museum that deals with the history of the Confederacy seeing that so many blacks had been enslaved and treated badly.

I recently visited the museum and came away very impressed. I don't care what race or gender the CEO is, they are doing a great job with the displays and information. She also seems to have a good grasp of both the history and collective memory of the war. I don't have any experience with the museum prior to her arrival, but I think she was a great hire.

I agree. If she does a good job - which she apparently does -, I don't care about race or gender either.

 

[MattL]

Not really. Immigrant cannon fodder were far more instrumental. Black soldiers were not allowed at the front line, with certain exceptions.

Did they do their duty? Yes, of course. Please do not use the internet to re-write history in a way that makes folks happy.

Saying a group was instrumental is not the same as saying there weren't other groups more instrumental. I am sure you understand this difference. Saying they were instrumental is not re-writing history, suggesting the poster said something they clearly did not is rewriting their post.

The question is are you saying a group that made up 10% of the Union army wasn't instrumental at all? Even beyond that the symbolism of Black serving as soldiers (even in a less significant capacity as many White soldiers) is immensely powerful. Again are you saying that also wasn't instrumental in the Civil War?

 

[MattL]

https://www.kcra.com/article/civil-...mple-as-people-would-like-to-make-it/22761685

I don't necessarily disagree with her point that it's not simple, but I guess an underlying assumption implied that people in general treat the Civil War as simpler than wars in general. Nearly every war has similar components, of not knowing why people were fighting. We had a draft in WWII for example and career service soldiers who had to just go along, yet it's reduced down to something far more simple than the Civil War in the US, all about beating the X bad guys. Honestly I'd say most people have a far more complex view of the Civil War (even if most of us on either side would agree still simplistic) than most other wars.

I also don't think most people who even are for statues getting relocated have a problem understanding why the other side wants the statues up, in a general sense at least... that clearly it represents an important history to them. They just disagree.

I notice this as a tactic for those who want to muddy the issue. It's actually quite simple. These memorials memorialize different things to different people, this should not be a surprise. One group wanted them up at one point and some people still want them up in specific locations of public demonstration. Others have the inverse motivation, they don't want it representing public presentation. That's it. So many people (on either side) spend too much time trying to end-run this very basic concept, to avoid facing that someone else isn't completely ignorant, that they don't have misplaced priorities, that they do in fact value things and history just like you do, they just disagree on something. It's disingenuous for people to then attack a side via tangential claims like this rather than just face this disagreement head on.

 

[WJC]

I'm surprised because I hadn't expected an African-American in such a position. I'm a bit confused about whether it's only today called the American Civil War Museum and the historic name is the Museum of the Confederacy, or if the latter is a site of the former (the other sites being the White House of the Confederacy and the Appomattox museum, and all three together forming the American Civil War Museum), but either way, I would have thought that African-Americans wouldn't want to be associated with a museum that deals with the history of the Confederacy seeing that so many blacks had been enslaved and treated badly.


I agree. If she does a good job - which she apparently does -, I don't care about race or gender either.

Thanks for your response.
Judging from the video, she is an eloquent spokesperson for both the museum and the subject of history.

 

[WJC]

Not really. Immigrant cannon fodder were far more instrumental. Black soldiers were not allowed at the front line, with certain exceptions.

Thanks for your response.
As one who had immigrant family members in the conflict, I fully appreciate their role. They were also instrumental in the outcome, as was every soldier in Blue.
That said, there can be no denying that Blacks as a group had a huge stake in the outcome. Had the so-called Confederate States won, they would have remained in bondage, probably for the rest of their lives. With a United States victory, they earned freedom and the first steps to eventual political and social equality.
No other group experienced such radical change as did Blacks.

 

[WJC]

Please do not use the internet to re-write history in a way that makes folks happy.

Thanks for your response.
You exaggerate the importance of our opinions in this Forum.