Christian Keller on the Military Education of Robert E. Lee

Glad to see that a video of Christian Keller’s recent talk at the Lee Chapel at Washington & Lee University is now available. You will notice that even without the Confederate flags flanking the Recumbent Lee statue it is still possible to commemorate the former general and president on the anniversary of his passing.

[Uploaded to YouTube on October 14, 2014]

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9 comments… add one
  • Jack Nov 1, 2014 @ 9:20

    You may be correct in time Michael as FL renamed a high school named after Nathan Forrest. The goal is to remove Confederate remembrance unless it is used as an example of repression.

    • Kevin Levin Nov 1, 2014 @ 9:48

      Well, NBF certainly new something about repression and oppression.

      • Jack Nov 1, 2014 @ 11:01

        So did Abraham Lincoln.

        There are other examples of renaming places such as 3 Confederate-themed parks in Memphis. Has anyone seen the renaming of a place associated with a Union military hero such as the William T. Sherman public school in NYC? I’m simply pointing out inconsistencies.

        • Kevin Levin Nov 1, 2014 @ 11:07

          The are not inconsistencies. The people in NYC are free to petition to have the names of these places changed. Apparently, they copse not to do so.

        • Andy Hall Nov 1, 2014 @ 17:54

          There are other examples of renaming places such as 3 Confederate-themed parks in Memphis.

          Yeah, funny story about that. See, the city was considering renaming one park — Forrest Park. Folk who were opposed to that pushed a bill through the Tennessee Legislature that would take away local municipalities’ ability to do that, so to preserve its autonomy the city ended up renaming all three of its Confederate-named parks. Do’oh!

        • Pat Young Nov 2, 2014 @ 3:23

          Why would it be inconsistent for New York City not to rename a school because Memphis has renamed a park? Makes no sense at all.

          For those not familiar with NYC, there are a ton of schools here. In addition to the folks you would expect to see schools named after (my girlfriend taught at Jame Madison and at Abraham Lincoln), there are high schools named after Civil War era figures like William Cullen Bryant and Samuel Tilden. There is a David Dixon Porter elementary school as well as one named after Edward Everett Hale. Lew Wallace, Samuel F. Du Pont, Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Augustus St. Gaudens, William McKinley, Arthur Tappan, Franz Siegel, Thaddeus Stevens, Sojourner Truth, Philip Sheridan, David C Farragut, Clara Barton are all Civil War era figures with Elementary Schools named after them. Denzell Washington has one too, if you want to throw in a cinematic Civil War vet. Horace Greeley, Mark Twain, and Walt Whitman are among the many Civil War era folks who have middle schools named for them.

  • Michael C Williams Oct 25, 2014 @ 19:17

    The next thing will be a re-naming the school.

    I’ll put five bucks on it.

  • John Betts Oct 24, 2014 @ 9:27

    How can this be?!? I was told that without the flags there was no honor there! Or something like that…

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