Posted on 04/11/2010 7:56:14 AM PDT by moneyrunner
It’s been a few years since I strolled the streets of Colonial Williamsburg or visited the beautiful Carter’s Grove Plantation. There are a number of reasons: the kids have grown and left the house making the visits less of a family occasion. But one of the reasons that I have don’t look forward to these visits like I once did is the showcasing of slavery.
Liberals (or as they like to call themselves, “progressives”) don’t like America very much. At least they don’t like America as it evolved or as it is. So they want to change it – a lot. Barack Obama is a perfect example of this: apologizing for his country abroad and transforming it at home. Michelle Obama, during her husband’s campaign famously said that “For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country,” Of all of the pronouncements of the Obamas this is one of the most true. For people like her, America has nothing to be proud of – beyond making Obama President.
And that’s the message that is sent when slavery is emphasized in historic sites like Williamsburg. Williamsburg is like Disneyland. It’s an adult theme park. It’s the Colonial period in American history, dressed up and cleaned up. Disneyland works because visitors are not forced to watch the Disney characters undress, or shown the tunnels and infrastructure that keep the park going.
At Williamsburg we don’t see chamber pots full of night soil being tossed out into the street, we don’t see children dying of childhood diseases. What we go to see is a charming village, painstakingly reconstructed and meticulously maintained by thousands of workers who stay in the background. But thanks to progressives, we have slavery pushed in our faces.
(Excerpt) Read more at moneyrunner.blogspot.com ...
Excellant article...thanks for posting.
I love the last line!
For everyone who stayed home on election day because McCain isn’t a real conservative I ask “how do you feel now?”
You’ve helped elect a person whose administration is filled with people who hate America and who feel Mao is their favorite ‘philosopher’.
Thanks for the posting. I know exactly what the author is saying since I had a similar experience at Philipsburg Manor in Westchester County, NY. For years the tour of the Manor house and grounds focused on the life of absentee Dutch landlords and their huge Hudson River Valley farms. However, within the last few years, the emphasis has shifted to slavery. That is all the docents talk about! The Philipse family is presented as an afterthought and the slaves are the main event. While it would be poor history to ignore the slave labor that worked these NYS farms in the late 17th century to early 18th, it is revisionist history to discard the Europeans whose efforts established our country.
When Philly wanted to improve their Liberty Bell display, the black groups insisted that there be a big slavery presence. It was like they wanted to co-opt the Liberty Bell monument. I wouldn’t mind if somewhere a group of African Americans bought some land and created a museum or monument to ‘Slavery in America’, just stop trying to shove it into everything else.
But it was everywhere else. In all the beautiful houses and mansions -— they were all maintained by armies of slaves.
Actually, no.
Colonial Williamsburg moved to present an updated and more socially oriented version of colonial history through the leadership of the Harvard-educated historian Cary Carson. Calling his approach "Becoming Americans," Carson attempted to integrate social history with the town's traditional presentation of political history. For instance, a tour called "According to the Ladies" introduced visitors to the lives of Williamsburg women. Historical interpreters began to portray slaves for the first time, and in 1988 slave cabins were reconstructed at Carter's Grove, an eighteenth-century plantation about five miles outside of Williamsburg. We're going to have to show rebellion, violence and racism in a way we haven't done at Williamsburg," Rex Ellis, the assistant director of African American interpretation for Colonial Williamsburg, told the New York Times at the time. "How we do that is extremely important. We must be true to the record or we stand in danger of rewriting history ourselves. The subject of slavery is certainly painful, which is one of the reasons it needs to be dealt with. We need to learn from all of history, including the uncomfortable parts of history."
Sure, that will get the average family to come ... make them uncomfortable.
Better yet, show them slaves whipped and sold:
This attitude certainly marked a sea change at Colonial Williamsburg, but sometimes efforts at social history became too uncomfortable. An attempt to reenact an eighteenth-century slave auction, which included the separation of families, led to such intense reactions on the parts of staff, participants, and visitors that the event was never repeated.
This is part and parcel of the science and practice of victimology. “I’m a victim, and if I’m not a victim, I’m part of a group that was victimized, so I’m better than you. You owe me.” And white liberals say “right on” because it makes them feel that they are “down with the struggle.” (Whatever that means).
THANKS FOR THE EXTRA INFO.....
Yeah, “ I be down with the struggle too! “ (ever since Obozo came in, I been strugglin!).
Race baiters have made a career and a very lucrative one on “keeping them on the Plantation” into 2010. Only now they are not called Williamsburg and Tara, the plantations are now the Detroit Plantation, the Camden ,NJ Plantation, the Watts Plantation.
The infamy of these race baitors can really be seen when they disparage blacks like thomas sowell and clarence Thomas and condi Rice and praise Gangsta Rappers!
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