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A Southern Black History Month Moment
Canada Free Press ^ | February 4, 2012 | Calvin E. Johnson, Jr.

Posted on 02/04/2012 6:54:53 PM PST by BigReb555

The Christmas of 1864, would be memorable for the Davis family and probably the best Christmas Jim Limber would ever have.

(Excerpt) Read more at canadafreepress.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: southernhistory
The following story should be included during Black History Month.

A magazine article in 1989 caught my eye about a black child, a Confederate President's First Lady and the Southern Presidential Family. The story was written by Gulfport, Mississippi freelance writer Mrs. Peggy Robbins and is entitled, "Jim Limber Davis."

This is my summary of Mrs. Robbin's wonderful story.

On the morning of February 15, 1864, Mrs. Varina Davis, wife of Southern President Jefferson Davis, had concluded her errands and was driving her carriage down the streets of Richmond, Virginia on her way home. She heard screams from a distance and quickly went to the scene to see what was happening.

Varina saw a young black child being abused by an older man. She demanded that he stop striking the child and when this failed she shocked the man by forcibly taking the child away. She took the child to her carriage and with her to the Confederate White House.

Arriving home Mrs. Davis and maid 'Ellen' gave the young boy a bath, attended to his cuts and bruises and feed him. The only thing he would tell them is that his name was Jim Limber. He was happy to be rescued and was given some clothes of the Davis' son Joe.

The Davis family were visited the following evening by a friend of Varina's, noted Southern Diarist-Mary Boykin Chesnut, who saw Jim Limber and wrote later that she had seen the boy and that he was eager to show me his cuts and bruises. She also said, "the child is an orphan rescued yesterday from a brutal Negro Guardian." and "there are things in life that are too sickening, and such cruelty is one of them."

There were some children who addressed Jim as Jim Limber Davis for fun. This was fine with him because he felt he was indeed a member of the family. The Davis letters to friends are an indication of his acceptance as they were written that he was a member of their gang of children.

The Christmas of 1864, would be memorable for the Davis family and probably the best Christmas Jim Limber would ever have. A Christmas tree was set up in Saint Paul's Church, decorated and gifts placed beneath it. On Christmas evening orphans were brought to the church and were delighted with the presents they got. Jim was happy to help decorate the tree.

Mrs. Robbin's wrote, in her story, that Mrs. Jefferson Davis was a very good story teller who was able to make sounds of different animals in the stories about the critters. Jim was always eager to help.

The end of the War Between the States was coming and Richmond was being evacuated. Varina and the children left ahead of Jefferson Davis. The president and his staff left just hours before the occupation of Union troops.

Varina and the children were by the side of Jefferson Davis at his capture near Irwinville, Georgia and again the family was separated. Jefferson Davis was taken to Virginia to spend two years in prison.

Mrs. Davis and her children were taken to Macon, Georgia and later to Port Royal outside of Savannah. At Port Royal their Union escort, Captain Charles T. Hudson, made good at his earlier threats to take Jim Limber away. As the Union soldiers came to forcibly take young Jim, he put up a great struggle and tried to hold onto his family as they to him. Jim and his family cried uncontrollably as the child was taken. His family would never again see him or know what happened to him. The Davis' tried in later years to locate Jim but were unsuccessful.

The Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia is home to a portrait of Jim Limber Davis in the Eleanor S. Brookenbrough Library. I thank Mrs. Peggy Robbin's who wrote the Jim Limber Davis story in 1989 and the Southern Partisan Magazine for publishing her story in the second quarter Issue-Volume IX of 1989.

1 posted on 02/04/2012 6:54:59 PM PST by BigReb555
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To: BigReb555

Let me know when they create a Caucasian History Month.


2 posted on 02/04/2012 8:20:25 PM PST by Veggie Todd (I don't mind you hitting me, Frank, but take it easy on the Bacardi.)
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To: BigReb555

If Blacks only knew their history earlier than Malcom X they would never vote for a Democrat. I wish ALL African Americans would read, and white Americans for that matter. Called;

“Setting the record straight: American history in Black & White” by David Barton.

If they were to read it, all but the most brainwashed would have to ask them selves , “how did Blacks ever align themselves with Democrats?” The Democrats were clearly the pro-slavery party in the 1800s, and following the Civil War fought against giving former slaves any civil rights and having blacks a part of the political process. The Democrats were the Klu Klux Klan, formed to intimidate anyone black or white from voting for pro-civil rights Republicans in southern elections. And we can argue that the Democrats still have Blacks in a form of slavery, by twisting their knowledge of history by pretty much erasing history older than than MLK. And their new slave master is keeping’s them in “Want”, and the Government being the provider.

I heard a black lady call into Liberal Talk radio the other day saying “Republicans have been racist going back centuries, and that the only good Republican was Lincoln”. After reading the book, I was not angry with her, my heart actually wept for her and those who have been “brainwashed”. The word Cain used and was chastised for.

The Democrats are the party of Jim Crow
The Democrats gave birth to the KKK which original purpose was to suppress the black vote (who voted 100% Republican) by intimidation, murder, and terrorism.
The Democrats voted against all anti-lynching laws proposed by Republicans
The Civil Rights movement did not start in the 1960s it stared 100 years earlier, and it was the Democrats that harshly opposed giving former slaves Civil Rights, and kept that fight up for over 100 years.
It was the Democrats that began poll taxes, literacy test, grandfather clauses, hide-and-seek polling places, and several other ways to keep the Blacks from voting (because blacks voted 100% Republican).
It was the Democrats who would lynch Blacks & Whites trying to advance Civil Rights and Voting rights for former slaves.
It was a Democrat who shot the Great Emancipator Abraham Lincoln.
And it was Democrats that did not elect their first Black to Congress until 1935 while Republicans have been doing it for 67 years.

The First Blacks In Congress Were All Republicans

United States Senate
Hiram Rhodes Revels (1822-1901); Republican – Mississippi; 1870-1871
Blanche Bruce (1841-1898); Republican – Mississippi; 1875-1881

House of Representatives
John Willis Menard (1838-1893); Republican - Louisiana; 1868
Joseph Rainey (1832-1887); Republican - South Carolina; 1870-1879
Jefferson F. Long (1836-1901); Republican – Georgia; 1870-1871
Robert C. De Large (1842-1874); Republican - South Carolina; 1871-1873
Robert B. Elliott (1842-1884); Republican - South Carolina; 1871-1874
Benjamin S. Turner (1825-1894); Republican – Alabama; 1871-1873
Josiah T. Walls (1842-1905); Republican – Florida; 1871-1873, 1873-1875, 1875-1876
Richard H. Cain (1825-1887); Republican - South Carolina; 1873-1875, 1877-1879
John R. Lynch (1847-1939); Republican – Mississippi; 1873-1877, 1882-1883
James T. Rapier (1837-1883); Republican – Alabama; 1873-1875
Alonzo J. Ransier (1834-1882); Republican - South Carolina; 1873-1875
Jeremiah Haralson (1846-1916); Republican - Alabama; 1875-1877
John Adams Hyman (1840-1891); Republican - North Carolina; 1875-1877
Charles E. Nash (1844-1913); Republican – Louisiana; 1875-1877
Robert Smalls (1839-1915); Republican - South Carolina; 1875-1879, 1882-1883, 1884-1887
James E. O’Hara (1844-1905); Republican - North Carolina; 1883-1887
Henry P. Cheatham (1857-1935); Republican - North Carolina; 1889-1893
John Mercer Langston (1829-1897); Republican – Virginia; 1890-1891
Thomas E. Miller(1849-193); Republican - South Carolina; 1890-1891
George W. Murray (1853-1926); Republican - South Carolina; 1893-1895, 1896-1897
George Henry White (1852-1918); Republican - North Carolina; 1897-1901
The Democrats did not elect their first black American to the U.S. House until 1935, and he was from the North. The Southern Democrats waited until 1973. The first Black Senator was not elected until 1993.
And if you are wondering why so many Black Republicans could get elected in the racist south during the reconstruction period, it is because many whites of the old confederacy refused to take the loyalty oath. No oath, no right to vote. Others just stayed away out of protest.


3 posted on 02/04/2012 10:48:34 PM PST by NavyCanDo
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To: NavyCanDo

But didn’t Lincoln destroy state’s rights?


4 posted on 02/04/2012 11:21:39 PM PST by 3boysdad (The very elect.)
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To: NavyCanDo

This is the “Tin Can” version of history typically produced by prevailing governments. You are giving ‘Republicans’ way too much credit. I prefer to look at more comprehensive and realistic history which includes revisionist views...a great example of this is Herbert Hoover’s recently released “Freedom Betrayed: Herbert Hoover’s Secret History of the Second World War and Its Aftermath” or Thomas Woods’ “Lincoln Unmasked”. Also of interest would be any treatise on the actual roots of the Republican Party the odious Whig Party in which honest Abe became a party boss....as the cows say ‘read more history’.


5 posted on 02/05/2012 4:55:40 AM PST by iopscusa (El Vaquero. (SC Lowcountry Cowboy))
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To: iopscusa

The probelm is many do not know thier history and many more do not want to know, things come easier when you join the crowd and scream the loudest to get something for nothing just because of the color of your skin is a score


6 posted on 02/05/2012 5:13:33 AM PST by ronnie raygun (V)
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