I love this lesson on Reconstruction with toddlers. Via Civil War Memory .
Showing posts with label civil war. Show all posts
Showing posts with label civil war. Show all posts
With a Rebel Yell?
What did the "rebel yell" used by Confederate troops in the Civil War sound like? For years and years this question as been posed as mysterious and unanswerable. Historian Shelby Foote, appearing in Ken Burn's Civil War, said we could never be sure, going on to describe it as probably sounding like "a foxhunt yip mixed up with sort of a banshee squall." But it turns out we can know exactly what it sounded like, thanks to some early recordings at the Library of Congress:
Bruce Levine to Speak at EWU and Spokane
Heads up! Civil War historian Bruce Levine will be speaking at EWU this Thursday noon and at the MAC in Spokane Thursday evening. Levine's newest book is Confederate Emancipation: Southern Plans to Free and Arm Slaves During the War. (A review of the book is here.) Levine will deliver two lectures:
"The Myth of the Black Confederate"
Thursday Oct. 2 at 12 noon
Monroe Hall 205, Cheney WA
"The Confederacy's Plan to Emancipate (and Arm) Slaves"
Thursday Oct. 2 at 6 p.m.
Eric A. Johnston Memorial Audition - Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture
2316 W. First Avenue, Spokane WA
These are important lectures. In recent years neo-confederate "heritage" groups have worked hard to refashion the public narrative of the Civil War, downplaying or dismissing entirely the central importance of slavery and racism. One of their efforts has been to argue that there were large numbers of blacks who fought on the side of the South because they just loved their Massa Lee or something. It is nonsense of course and academic historians have mostly ignored the black confederate mythology even as the neoconfederates have created websites, educational programs, and shoddy publications based on the myth. Levine is among the few historians willing to tackle the topic head-on. (For more on the topic, check out The Myth of Black Confederates tag at the Civil War Memory blog.)
This opportunity to hear a top historian is thanks to a Teaching American History grant from the U.S. Department of Education to Spokane Educational Service District 101.
(If you can't make it here is an MP3 of Levine delivering the second lecture at UC Santa Cruz.)
"The Myth of the Black Confederate"
Thursday Oct. 2 at 12 noon
Monroe Hall 205, Cheney WA
"The Confederacy's Plan to Emancipate (and Arm) Slaves"
Thursday Oct. 2 at 6 p.m.
Eric A. Johnston Memorial Audition - Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture
2316 W. First Avenue, Spokane WA
These are important lectures. In recent years neo-confederate "heritage" groups have worked hard to refashion the public narrative of the Civil War, downplaying or dismissing entirely the central importance of slavery and racism. One of their efforts has been to argue that there were large numbers of blacks who fought on the side of the South because they just loved their Massa Lee or something. It is nonsense of course and academic historians have mostly ignored the black confederate mythology even as the neoconfederates have created websites, educational programs, and shoddy publications based on the myth. Levine is among the few historians willing to tackle the topic head-on. (For more on the topic, check out The Myth of Black Confederates tag at the Civil War Memory blog.)
This opportunity to hear a top historian is thanks to a Teaching American History grant from the U.S. Department of Education to Spokane Educational Service District 101.
(If you can't make it here is an MP3 of Levine delivering the second lecture at UC Santa Cruz.)
Eye of the Storm: Online Historical Storytelling
"In 1994, a dealer specializing in Southern works approached the Virginia Historical Society with four tattered scrapbooks containing some five hundred vivid Civil War watercolor drawings and maps by Union Soldier Private Knox Sneden . . . An equally remarkable series of events led to the discovery of a diary/memoir which accompanied the artwork. Together these constitute one of the most important Civil War documents ever produced . . . "
"Eye of the Storm takes you on an unforgettable journey through the Civil War. Through this online interpretation, you can experience the life of a Civil War soldier through Sneden's journal entries. Audio accounts of Sneden's narrative with commentary by the Director of the Virginia Historical Society, Charles F. Bryan, Jr. can be heard by visiting the movies section of this site. Also included here are forums through which visitors can discuss the work and Civil War history."
This intriguing site could serve as a model for online storytelling. I like how the little flash movies combine historical commentary, a reading of the primary sources, and images from Sneden's watercolors to tell stories. And the site is a reminder that you do not need a thousand historic images to tell a simple story. The Balloon is Loose! for example uses a single watercolor painting, cropping and animating images to produce movement and interest.
In the Northwest it is easy to imagine a similar site involving the Mullan Road or the 1918 Influenza epidemic or really any story where telling documents and interesting illustrations exist.
Musarium, the online sponsor of Eye of the Storm, has some other interesting virtual exhibits. The most powerful is Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America, taken from the book of the same name. Without Sanctuary features lynching photographs from 19th and 20th century America, the flash movies of them with commentary is profoundly disturbing. See also Balkan Portraits and Border States (the later features photographs from Arizona and Sonora). Access the full Musarium archive here.
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