[ArcLight]

No lie...my niece--black like me, of course!!--is a graduate of one of the nation's best liberal arts colleges. I was talking to her once about the Civil War, an event of the most immense significance to black people, and I realized she didn't know when the war had been fought. I just came right out and asked her the dates of the war. She said, "1960?" I was flabbergasted. But...there you are.

[afraidfortherepublic]

...my niece--black like me, of course!!--is a graduate of one of the nation's best liberal arts colleges. I was talking to her once about the Civil War, an event of the most immense significance to black people, and I realized she didn't know when the war had been fought.

You don't have to be black to not know US history! You just have to be educated in the public schools since 1960. My own children are woefully ignorant about some of the basics -- despite my best efforts. You think they are learning it in school -- honors programs and all -- and then you find out that there are whole chunks that have been glossed over!

I have to say that I only missed one of the questions, but I graduated from high school in 1956!

[Little Bill]

I know how you feel, I asked my daughter when she was in the 5th grade what was the Capitol of the U.S., she said "Boston."

[ODDITHER]

I came across some important documents of my 4 Great Grandfather. I was absolutely amazed at some of the things that had been recorded in the family diary.

1. There were two types of abolishionists. There were those who would buy slaves in the south and bring them North and sell them to Northern "political" abolishionists. The political abolishionists would let them go. They had no way of making a living, no education, and many returned to their masters in the south to keep from starving.

2. The moral abolishionists were concerned with ensuring that the Freed slaves would be able to make it on their own. My Grandfather was one. He had a town in Arkansas called The Lord's Vineyard. (It is now a state park.) He was not only concerned that they could make it on their own, but he was concerned that his own children would be able to make it without "slaves". He proceeded to hold school and church around his dining room table, They all sat together and learned to read and write, they all worked together learning a skill.

When they could read and write and had a skil, he gave them a piece of land and a business. The diary talks about one of the sons being a little lazy, he became quite upset when two of the freed slaves, were given a business before him.

He would go south, purchase more slaves and bring them to live at the Lord's vineyard. He mortgaged his land in order to keep this going. When the war came, he lost his land rather than forclose on the freed slaves.

One really interesting thing in the diaries was the fact that his son who was a US Marshall, in the Indian Territory, arrested Indians for beating their slaves. In fact, one time the indians sent their slaves to try and kill him. There was almost another wwr after the civil war because the Indians would not give up their slaves. They had bought them when the govt. paid them for their land and moved them to the Indian territory. The govt. then paid them to give them up. Most Indians fought for the south in the Civil war.