The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Greetings ta ever one in western Illinois and all readers of "The Quill".
MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY, FACTS & THOUGHTS
Having just finished, on January 15th, a lot of enteresting information spoken and written on Martin Luther King holiday, it seems there was some seldom taught history that was left out.
Why bother about study'n any aspect of history, of any time or place, what's the point?
Well, lets study the true history of slavery, and reminders of how easy it is to "revise" it.
As maniacal as it is, it's hard ta ignore the latest leftist drool about statutes and monuments.
They do not have, and do not want any perspective, other than their own, because it is all just political distraction ta be used fer their purposes.
Blacks were not enslaved because they were black! They were enslaved because they were available.
Slavery has existed in the world for thousands of years.
Whites enslaved whites in Europe for centuries before the first black was brought to the Western Hemisphere.
Asians enslaved Europeans. Asians enslaved other Asians.
Africans enslaved other Africans and even today, in North Africa blacks continue to enslave other blacks.
Slavery has existed since the Old Testament Biblical times.
A bit of history that is conveniently ignored:
between 1500 and the 1860's, at least 12 million Africans were brought to the "New World' of the American. Of these 12 million forced into slavery, less than 500,000 were brought to North America.
The remaining 11,500,000 Africans went to South America and the Caribbean. By the mid-1600s Europeans were outnumbered by Africans in cities such as Mexico City, Havana and Lima.
And then there are a few more historical facts often conveniently over looked:
1. The first legal slave owner in American history was a black tobacco farmer named Anthony Johnson.
2. North Carolina's largest slave holder in 1860 was a black plantation owner named William Ellison.
3. American Indians owned thousands of black slaves.
4. In 1830 there were 3,775 free black people who owned 12,740 black slaves.
5. Many black slaves were allowed to hold jobs, own businesses and own real estate
6. Brutal black on black slavery was common in Africa for thousands of years:
7. Most slaves brought from Africa to America were purchased from black slave owners.
8. White people ended legal chattel slavery;
This is a useless fact. Since black slaves couldn't vote and had no rights, it would have been impossible for them to end slavery.
Turning Toward The Present
Turning to the present:
1. Barack Obama, who stoked the fires of racial hatred for the eight years of his presidency, is the direct paternal descendant of slave owners.
2.You certainly won't hear CNN's Anderson Cooper mentioning Obama's sordid family history, lest Obama might remind Cooper, the son of heiress Gloria Vanderbilt, that his family also were slave owners.
3. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who found some Lee and Jackson statues to remove from the Empire State, seems to have forgotten New York is named for one of the most notorious slave traders in history, the Duke of York. Better tear down that Big Apple, Andy.
4. Before defacing and tearing down statues became the latest Leftist fad, Virginia's Gov. Terry McAuliffe, characterized the Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson statues on Richmond's Monument Avenue as "parts of our heritage." After Charlottesville, McAuliffe re-characterized them as "flash points for hatred, division and violence."
5. "Blacks, who were never slaves, are fighting whites, who were never Nazis, over a Confederate statue erected by southern Democrats, because now Democrats can't stand their own history anymore:yet somehow, it's still Trump's fault!
6. A large number of soldiers at the massacre at the "Battle of Wounded Knee", where Indians were slaughtered, were black! No one today would accuse black of genocide of Indians.
7. Professor Leonard Haynes of South University conservatively estimates 50,000 to 60,000 African-Americans supported the confederacy by serving in the confederate ranks. He put it this way "When you eliminate the black confederate soldier, you've eliminated the history of the south".
There is much irony ta be found in the story of black confederates, men of color served within confederate companies while their union counterparts were segregated from white troops.
Dr. Richard Rollins, editor of Black Southerners in Gray: Essays on Afro-Americans in Confederate Armies (volume XI) found that twenty-five percent of the Confederate Ordinance Department consisted of black men and that early in the war several back militia units were raised in Louisiana and Alabama.
Most ironic of all, Rollins discovered several monuments in the south dedicated to the service of African-Americans loyal ta the Confederacy while few are found in the north.
Moreover, Prof. Evin L. Jordon, Jr., author of Black Confederates and Afro-Yankees in Civil War Virginia writes;
Numerous black Virginians served with Confederate forces as soldiers, sailors, teamsters, spies, and hospital personnel.
For example, blacks joined the Confederate navy but by law a ship's crew was not to be more than one-twentieth black, (though) in February 1865 Secretary of the Navy Stephen R. Mallory admitted his navy's need of an additional 1,150 black seamen.
I know of black Confederate sharpshooters who saw combat during the 1862 Seven Days Campaign and (of) the existence of black companies (which) organized and drilled in Richmond during March-April 1865.
Integrated companies of black and white hospital workers fought against the Union army in the Petersburg trenches during March 1865.
There were several recruitment campaigns and charity balls held in Virginia on behalf of black soldiers and special camps of instruction were established to train them.
During March 1865 fully armed black Confederate soldiers were seen in Richard; one of the last Confederate prisoners at Point Lookout was described as a "Negro reb."
And so the bonds. Between southern families and their African-American allies are not easily understood, especially by those unfamiliar with the region's history.
In many instances deep devotion and affection transcended the master-slave relationship and was not destroyed by the divisive wedge of Federal reconstruction.
The love of homeland, as well as a traditional Christian upbringing, might partially explain why men and women of color could support the Southern Confederacy, even at the expense of immediate emancipation. Suffice it to say, black Confederates were not fighting for their own enslavement but sincerely believed that their ultimate freedom, prosperity, and destiny lay south of the Mason-Dixon Line.
So, why write about all of this in the first place? A feller must not be sympathetic ta slavery or bondage of any man or woman.
I am proud of my great, great, grandfather who fought for the north under General Sherman and followed him in his "March to the Sea" campaign and "Siege of Atlanta".
But, when the war was over he came home never to leave the county he was raised in 'cause of his memories of the evils of war.
But it seems in recent years, revisionist of history are distort'n things, tear'n down statues in activities like'n to third world Banana Republics, and deeply divide'n the country and some of it's people as a whole.
Their purpose seems not ta build up, but ta aggressively divide and destroy our great nation as a whole.
Well, the boys are gonna have ta dwell on this subject fer a spell and take into account "fake news" infiltrates all aspects of history depend'n on who's tell'n the tale.
Anything that forwards divisiveness and hatred must be viewed with a skeptical eye. A person who will not forgive will not be forgiven themselves.
Well, have a good rest of the week and keep an eye out for that allusive ground hog Punxsutawney Phil on February 2nd because somehow he predicts the weather accordion' ta folklore.
Hope'n ta see ya in church this weekend with your family and friends.
Remember, wherever ya are, whatever ya be a do'n "BE A GOOD ONE!"
Keep on Smile'n
Count yer many Blessings
Catch ya later,
Barnyard Bruke