Worried about who your teenager idolizes? Well, now you can return them to the good old days of the Civil War and Southern chivalry with Lochlainn Seabrook’s book about Nathan Bedford Forrest that is geared specifically for teens. Ride along with Forrest and get a firsthand look at his childhood in Tennessee, his teens in [...]
Nathan B. Forrest
Over at the Atlantic I share some thoughts about the recent controversy in Memphis surrounding the renaming of Forrest Park. I hope the essay at least provides a bit of historical context to this issue. Once again, thanks to Court Carney for making my job much easier. Tennessee’s state legislature finally passed a measure making [...]
Update: I didn’t see this one coming, but it is nice to see the SCV and NAACP working together in opposition to the Klan’s planned rally in Memphis next month. Millar shows that he should have been included in the city’s panel to re-name Forrest Park. Pastor Norman is quite impressive in his own right. [...]
Today it is being reported that a committee has been organized to determine the new name of Forrest Park and two other parks named in honor of the Confederacy in Memphis, Tennessee. Members of the committee include: Council members Bill Boyd and Harold Collins, Co-chairmen Reverend Keith Norman, Sr. Pastor of First Baptist Broad, current [...]
This week I am going to write an essay for my column at the Atlantic on the recent controversy surrounding the renaming of Forrest Park in Memphis, Tennessee. Court Carney’s 2001 JSH essay on Forrest and historical memory has been incredibly helpful in placing this most recent incident within a much broader context. I highly [...]
Letter-to-the-editor in Memphis’s The Commercial Appeal: I can’t express how much I agree with the writer of the Feb. 7 letter “No honors for traitors.” I, too, am a native white Southerner and Memphian. My great-grandfather fought for the Confederacy. That’s my family’s history; it’s not something about which I boast. He never bought or [...]
It should come as no surprise that the Ku Klux Klan is planning a rally to protest the renaming of Forrest Park in Memphis, Tennessee. Organizers expect thousands to attend. If this protest does materialize with substantial numbers it will present something of a conundrum for Southern heritage advocates who believe that Forrest’s significance to [...]
It comes down to this: Southern heritage advocates are their own worst enemies. We can see this clearly at work in last night’s decision on the part of the Memphis City Council to change the names of three parks named in honor of the Confederacy. Forrest Park is at center stage. In an interview with [...]
