Confederate flag salute in program upsets parents

Parents of some students at Avery Trace Middle School in Cookeville are upset because a history program by re-enactors included a salute to the Confederate flag.

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. — A program presented by a local camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans last Friday at Avery Trace Middle School has angered parents because students were asked to stand and listen to a recitation of a salute to the Confederate flag.

''My son told me something happened at school. I couldn't have imagined it would be anything like this,'' said Diane Paul, whose son attends the school. She asked that his name not be disclosed.

Paul also said the speakers promoted ''revisionist attitudes'' of the Civil War, particularly in regard to slavery.

The program by members of the Dillard-Judd Camp 1828 was similar to one they had presented last year for seventh- and eighth-grade American history classes at the middle school. The members, many of whom are active Civil War re-enactors, came dressed in period Confederate costumes to show the students what life was like during the 1860s.

According to Alma Anderson, the history teacher who organized the event, having the members come to the school offered a chance to ''make history come alive'' for her students.

Anderson said Friday's program began with the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag, for which students were asked to stand. Afterward, the teacher said, her eighth-graders were asked to remain standing for a salute to the Confederate flag.

''They explained they were going to salute not the Confederate States of America but to salute the thought of the folks who served in the Confederacy,'' Anderson said, adding that students were not required to salute. Neither were they provided the words of the salute.

''They were just to stand respectfully. You're not pledging. You're not saying anything. You're just standing there with respect,'' she said.

Diane Paul, however, said the re-enactors went too far when they asked her son to remain standing in honor of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. ''He knew it felt wrong, but he was there with his whole class, all these kids. No one wants to say anything,'' Paul said.

Anderson said no student or parent has complained to her about the program. She said that after the program, her students had a question-and-answer session with the group members. There were no questions about the salute, she said.

''If somebody had been upset, surely they could have come to me,'' Anderson added.

In contrast, she said, one parent thanked her for making the Civil War so interesting to her child.

In addition, Anderson said, Director of Schools Michael Martin attended the presentation. Martin could not be reached for comment.

Paul said she was troubled by ''revisionist attitudes'' of the Civil War that she said were promoted by the members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

''My son was told that a lot of black slaves liked their masters very much and that many blacks wore the Gray. There's a grain of truth there, but there were reasons why they were true. The whole answer wasn't given.

''What answers were given were distorted, and it's the distortion that disturbs me,'' the Cookeville mother said.

Reavis Mitchell, chairman of the Fisk University History Department, said a few blacks did own slaves, as well as members of the Pequot Native American tribe in New England.

''Anyone who could buy slaves owned them, but the predominate owners were white,'' Mitchell said. ''However, most Southerners didn't own slaves because slaves were very expensive. What people don't understand is that slavery kept most people poor. However, their dream was to own them or have their children own them. They've identified with a social and economic quest that the great majority of today's South was not historically a part of.''

She said the group's commander, Ed Butler, pointed out that some people had made the Confederate flag a racist symbol.

''But it is not a symbol of racism for the Dillard-Judd group. He made that very clear. He said there's no way anybody on this stage is going to say to you that slavery and what we did to the blacks were appropriate.''

Allen Sullivant, spokesman for the Sons of Confederate Veterans' national office, which is in Columbia, Tenn., said the school programs are a local initiative aimed at giving students a glimpse into the mindset of a Confederate soldier.

''We try to give historic presentations to schools that are willing to do it,'' said Sullivant, who lives in Brentwood.

Typically, a few members dressed in period uniform bring artifacts and speak about the life of the average Confederate soldier and his motivation to fight.

Sullivant said the presentations emphasize the complexity of issues such as slavery and the Civil War. ''People tend to boil things down, and sometimes they boil it to a point that the truth is taken out of the situation or distorted.''

Anderson said she would have preferred to have had Confederate and Union re-enactors talk to her students, but she said she could not find any Union ''soldiers'' in the Cookeville area.

''If I could find a Union re-enactor, I'd be all over that person like a duck on a June bug.''

Paul said she and several other parents, who would not talk to The Tennessean on the record, would schedule a meeting with Principal Skip Overstreet and Director Martin.

''We want our concerns to be heard. I think there's a need for dialogue on the issue,'' Paul said.

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