black Confederates

Remembering Another Loyal Body Servant in Alabama

by Kevin Levin on October 1, 2008 · 1 comment · Follow me on

in Lost Cause, Slavery

One of my readers was kind enough to pass along this historical marker description from Alabama.  Another wonderful example of how public spaces were used to reinforce black subservience as Jim Crow gradually became a fact of life for blacks in the South.  Interestingly, the war referenced is the Mexican-American rather than American Civil War.  [...]

Essential Reading on Confederate Slaves

by Kevin Levin on September 1, 2008 · 6 comments · Follow me on

in Uncategorized

If interested, you can read this brief article which covers yesterday’s ceremony for the SCV’s new favorite son, Weary Clyburn.  There is nothing in it that hasn’t been discussed already over the course of the past few days.  Earl ljames is cited as an “expert” on the subject of black Confederates; he isn’t .  The [...]

Another Black Confederate? (Part 1 of 9)

by Kevin Levin on July 15, 2008 · 24 comments · Follow me on

in Lost Cause, Public History

There is something profoundly disturbing about the concerted effort on the part of the Sons of Confederate Veterans to distort the past so as to assuage their deepest insecurities.  A quick perusal of their websites and the uninformed are left believing that the Confederacy was anti-slavery and that free blacks and slaves were some of [...]

Black Confederates: The Standard Formula

by Kevin Levin on February 10, 2008 · 13 comments · Follow me on

in Civil War Historians, Lost Cause

Here is a wonderful example of the rhetoric surrounding the myth of black Confederate soldiers.  You can find this story in the pages of The Murfreesboro Post by Shirley F. Jones: 1. Find a historical adviser from the Sons of Confederate Veterans and a “doctor George Smith” but fail to mention that he is a [...]

What Is It About Being a Slave That You Don’t Understand?

by Kevin Levin on November 26, 2007 · 7 comments · Follow me on

in Slavery

I guess you can’t blame newsmen for these sloppy stories about so-called black Confederates.  After all they don’t know who to talk to or what questions to ask.  Such is the case in the present story about a slave from Mississippi by the name of Isaac Pringle: Born in May, 1841, Isaac, or Ike as [...]

Florida’s Black Confederates

by Kevin Levin on October 7, 2007 · 0 comments · Follow me on

in Civil War Culture, Lost Cause

There is something very disturbing and sad about the way stories of black Confederates are reported in the news.  I suspect that much of it has to do with the fact that those reporting these stories have very little understanding of the history behind their subject.  This seems to be the case in this story [...]

The Last Black Confederate Surrenders

by Kevin Levin on July 24, 2007 · 7 comments · Follow me on

in Civil War Culture, Lost Cause, Memory

I’m not sure how I missed this story, but it looks like H.K. Edgerton has given up his crusade to teach Americans about the loyalty of black Southerners to the Confederate cause.  In the years leading up to his April 2007 decision to furl the flag Edgerton had become a popular fixture at various Southern [...]

25262728293031323334First