Slavery and Public History: The Tough Stuff of American Memory

by Horton, James Oliver

• ISBN13: 9780807859162
• ISBN10: 0807859168
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-02-01
• Publisher: UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS

Summary

America's slave past is being analyzed as never before, yet it remains one of the most contentious issues in U.S. memory. In recent years, the culture wars over the way that slavery is remembered and taught have reached a new crescendo. From the argument about the display of the Confederate flag over the state house in Columbia, South Carolina, to the dispute over Thomas Jefferson's relationship with his slave Sally Hemings and the ongoing debates about reparations, the questions grow ever more urgent and more difficult.Edited by noted historians James Oliver Horton and Lois E. Horton, this collection explores current controversies and offers a bracing analysis of how people remember their past and how the lessons they draw influence American politics and culture today. Bringing together some of the nation's most respected historians, including Ira Berlin, David W. Blight, and Gary B. Nash, this is a major contribution to the unsettling but crucial debate about the significance of slavery and its meaning for racial reconciliation.Contributors: Ira Berlin, University of Marylan David W. Blight, Yale University James Oliver Horton, George Washington University Lois E. Horton, George Mason University Bruce Levine, University of Illinois Edward T. Linenthal, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Joanne Melish, University of Kentucky Gary B. Nash, University of California, Los Angeles Dwight T. Pitcaithley, New Mexico State University Marie Tyler-McGraw, Washington, D.C. John Michael Vlach, George Washington University

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. vii
Coming to Terms with Slavery in Twenty-First-Century America	p. 1
If You Don't Tell It Like It Was, It Can Never Be as It Ought to Be	p. 19
Slavery in American History: An Uncomfortable National Dialogue	p. 35
The Last Great Taboo Subject: Exhibiting Slavery at the Library of Congress	p. 57
For Whom Will the Liberty Bell Toll? From Controversy to Cooperation	p. 75
Recovering (from) Slavery: Four Struggles to Tell the Truth	p. 103
Avoiding History: Thomas Jefferson, Sally Hemings, and the Uncomfortable Public Conversation on Slavery	p. 135
Southern Comfort Levels: Race, Heritage Tourism, and the Civil War in Richmond	p. 151
"A Cosmic Threat": The National Park Service Addresses the Causes of the American Civil War	p. 169
In Search of a Usable Past: Neo-Confederates and Black Confederates	p. 187
Epilogue: Reflections	p. 213
Notes	p. 225
Contributors	p. 253
Index	p. 257
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