Confederate Memorial Park, Alabama

byron ed

2nd Lieutenant
Joined
Mar 22, 2017
Location
Midwest
I don't have an opinion on it as yet, but fyi there's a scathing review of Confederate Memorial Park in Alabama in this month's Smithsonian Magazine (Dec 2018). It's in the article "The Costs of the Confederacy" leading with "In the last decade alone, American taxpayers have spent at least $40 million on Confederate monuments and groups that distort U. S. history and perpetuate racist ideology."

To my eye at least the photos in the article show the park as a wonderful, interesting and well-kept up place to visit, with active programming and events for schools and the public. I'm adding the place to my bucket list for sure.

The problem though, according to the authors, is the focus of the park's presentations. They quote a presenter on the porch of the main house there (the very house Jeff Davis retired to) saying rightly that there were some "hateful slaveowners" but then she unfortunately followed that up with a comment on slavery, that "it was good for the people who didn't know how to take care of themselves." In another place a reenactor pointed out to visitors correctly that "We were all Americans that fought a war that could have been prevented" but then he unfortunately followed that up with "And it wasn't fought over slavery, by the way!"

What really torqued the article's authors though was a banner on the the side of the site's library, a log cabin. That banner correctly read that "Many have been taught that the war between the states was fought by the Union to eliminate slavery" but unfortunately it went on to read "THIS VIEW IS NOT SUPPORTED BY THE HISTORICAL EVIDENCE" and "The Southern States Seceded Because They Resented the Northern States Using Their Numerical Advantage in Congress to Confiscate the Wealth of the South to the Advantage of the Northern States." That banner was in view of children, naively on a school field trip.*


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
* Apparently, according to the article, the the SUV has an agreement with the State of Alabama to use the cabin as a library, yet the state's Alabama Historical Commission could not explain how the banner had been permitted. I wonder if the banner, or the SUV person responsible for the banner, is still there
 
Back
Top