How does Trump explain those scars! Has Trump ever bothered to go to the African American Museum & read the stories or talk to Michele Obama about her ancestors history?
Why we need to teach history, not myth, from the time of the first incursions by Europeans (not just the English) to the present: the struggles, the progress, the regressions, the parts that are good and bad and ugly.
I recently watched a great film called Emancipation detailing Peter's story, with all its horrors and heroism. I recommend it without hesitation, as illustrative of two things: the tendency of both spoiled and small men toward tyranny and the uniquely heroic human qualities that can arise when we resist it. I was speechless and in tears by the end. What I see when I look at Peter's expression is a strength and nobility that transcends evil, showing us its opposite in self respect and immersion in love. This is what we are mean to be, and must be, if we, too, are to rise above the current regime and its retrograde, dehumanizing views.
I hesitated to click the Like button because how on earth can we say that we "like" looking at Peter's photograph? However, I do appreciate reading the details of Peter's story. I had previously seen the photograph many times — It was in my high school American history book and my college textbooks. But none of those books told Peter's full story. They only focused on the photograph's place in describing slavery's cruelty. Trump might succeed temporarily in removing slavery from museums, but he will never be able to retroactively remove it from the hundreds of thousands of history books that tell the truth. The librarians in our nation's libraries will never allow the massive book burnings the Nazis conducted in the 1930s and early 1940s. God, I hope I am right about that!
The battle for free access to a full range of literature was rejoined - in the last decade especially - to push back against misguided MAGA minions who have brought back book banning to school libraries and public libraries across our country.
Another powerful picture of America was included in a book that was one of the best I've ever read, Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis. It presents an interesting picture of the thoughts and deeds of people, especially, but not only, the ones that many call Founding Fathers. It includes some very insightful discussions of slavery, abolition and the freedom (or not) of speech. It also presented a picture of America painted in words and figures from and about the 1790 census.
I used part of the picture Ellis painted in a discussion last week. Somone had asserted in a discussion about Charlie Kirk and the Second Amendment that the "founders weren't thinking about an armed uprising back then because there was a common cultural consensus at the time." So I suggested that they consider some actual facts and actual evidence, including the first US census. https://www.archives.gov/research/census/1790.
The 1790 census headings distinguished between "white" people, "All other free persons" (free blacks) and "Slaves." In black and white, it illustrated two truths. First, a shockingly huge percentage of the population of southern states was black, so there certainly was not a common cultural consensus there. Second, the huge difference between the ratios in northern states and the ratios in southern states illustrated the extreme cultural disparity at that time even among the people who wrote or ratified our Constitution or Bill of Rights.
Virginia (by far the most populous state) had 747,610 residents, of which 40% were black: 292,627 were enslaved and 12,806 were free.
South Carolina had 249,073 residents, of which almost 44% were black: 107,094 were enslaved and 1,801 were free.
Maryland had 319,728 residents, of which 1/3 were black: 103,036 were enslaved and 8,043 were free.
Georgia had 82,548 residents, of which more than 1/3 were black: 29,264 were enslaved and 398 were free.
North Carolina had 393,751 residents, of which more than 1/4 were black: 100,572 were enslaved and 4,975 were free.
Those numbers were on the minds of many when the Constitution was written and ratified. For example, in The Federalist No. 43, James Madison addressed the tremendous danger posed by having massive numbers of enslaved people "abounding in some of the States, who, during the calm of regular government, are sunk below the level of men; but who, in the tempestuous scenes of civil violence, may emerge into the human character, and give a superiority of strength to any party with which they may associate themselves."
Thank you for the additional details on Peter. We dare not erase this part of history in favor of the positive Lost Cause Redemptionist propaganda, No rosy picture will suffice, no matter how hard Trump wishes this was true. Too many of us have seen the man, recognized the trauma, and look for a better future because of that knowledge, not despite it.
Just reading the comments about how Trump might feel about this image makes me think of all the images we have seen of Trump over the last decade with his ranting, raging, mocking, shocking, gesticulating, humiliating, demeaning, demanding, bellowing, bullying, and on and on. The toxic energy he spews infects all of us while he demands the destruction of any documentation that contradicts his ridiculous narrative. We could use Charlie Chaplin about now.
Thank you for the history lesson behind the picture. It seems like Trump is treating immigrants as less than human too. Part of our history I am not proud of.
How does Trump explain those scars! Has Trump ever bothered to go to the African American Museum & read the stories or talk to Michele Obama about her ancestors history?
This should be on the front page of the Times.
Message: Trump is trying to remove this from OUR museum.
Why we need to teach history, not myth, from the time of the first incursions by Europeans (not just the English) to the present: the struggles, the progress, the regressions, the parts that are good and bad and ugly.
We treat animals better than that. I see his humanity.
a very powerfull picture...worth way more than a thousand words
I recently watched a great film called Emancipation detailing Peter's story, with all its horrors and heroism. I recommend it without hesitation, as illustrative of two things: the tendency of both spoiled and small men toward tyranny and the uniquely heroic human qualities that can arise when we resist it. I was speechless and in tears by the end. What I see when I look at Peter's expression is a strength and nobility that transcends evil, showing us its opposite in self respect and immersion in love. This is what we are mean to be, and must be, if we, too, are to rise above the current regime and its retrograde, dehumanizing views.
I hesitated to click the Like button because how on earth can we say that we "like" looking at Peter's photograph? However, I do appreciate reading the details of Peter's story. I had previously seen the photograph many times — It was in my high school American history book and my college textbooks. But none of those books told Peter's full story. They only focused on the photograph's place in describing slavery's cruelty. Trump might succeed temporarily in removing slavery from museums, but he will never be able to retroactively remove it from the hundreds of thousands of history books that tell the truth. The librarians in our nation's libraries will never allow the massive book burnings the Nazis conducted in the 1930s and early 1940s. God, I hope I am right about that!
The battle for free access to a full range of literature was rejoined - in the last decade especially - to push back against misguided MAGA minions who have brought back book banning to school libraries and public libraries across our country.
That photo is particularly powerful.
Another powerful picture of America was included in a book that was one of the best I've ever read, Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis. It presents an interesting picture of the thoughts and deeds of people, especially, but not only, the ones that many call Founding Fathers. It includes some very insightful discussions of slavery, abolition and the freedom (or not) of speech. It also presented a picture of America painted in words and figures from and about the 1790 census.
I used part of the picture Ellis painted in a discussion last week. Somone had asserted in a discussion about Charlie Kirk and the Second Amendment that the "founders weren't thinking about an armed uprising back then because there was a common cultural consensus at the time." So I suggested that they consider some actual facts and actual evidence, including the first US census. https://www.archives.gov/research/census/1790.
The 1790 census headings distinguished between "white" people, "All other free persons" (free blacks) and "Slaves." In black and white, it illustrated two truths. First, a shockingly huge percentage of the population of southern states was black, so there certainly was not a common cultural consensus there. Second, the huge difference between the ratios in northern states and the ratios in southern states illustrated the extreme cultural disparity at that time even among the people who wrote or ratified our Constitution or Bill of Rights.
Virginia (by far the most populous state) had 747,610 residents, of which 40% were black: 292,627 were enslaved and 12,806 were free.
South Carolina had 249,073 residents, of which almost 44% were black: 107,094 were enslaved and 1,801 were free.
Maryland had 319,728 residents, of which 1/3 were black: 103,036 were enslaved and 8,043 were free.
Georgia had 82,548 residents, of which more than 1/3 were black: 29,264 were enslaved and 398 were free.
North Carolina had 393,751 residents, of which more than 1/4 were black: 100,572 were enslaved and 4,975 were free.
Those numbers were on the minds of many when the Constitution was written and ratified. For example, in The Federalist No. 43, James Madison addressed the tremendous danger posed by having massive numbers of enslaved people "abounding in some of the States, who, during the calm of regular government, are sunk below the level of men; but who, in the tempestuous scenes of civil violence, may emerge into the human character, and give a superiority of strength to any party with which they may associate themselves."
It's no coincidence that trump's favorite president besides himself is Andrew Jackson, the slaver and genocidal maniac.
Shalise Manza Young, thank you for keeping Peter's suffering, but surviving lesson alive. I appreciate your thoughtful piece.
Clearly, trump is threatened by Peter's humanity.
Thank you for the additional details on Peter. We dare not erase this part of history in favor of the positive Lost Cause Redemptionist propaganda, No rosy picture will suffice, no matter how hard Trump wishes this was true. Too many of us have seen the man, recognized the trauma, and look for a better future because of that knowledge, not despite it.
Just reading the comments about how Trump might feel about this image makes me think of all the images we have seen of Trump over the last decade with his ranting, raging, mocking, shocking, gesticulating, humiliating, demeaning, demanding, bellowing, bullying, and on and on. The toxic energy he spews infects all of us while he demands the destruction of any documentation that contradicts his ridiculous narrative. We could use Charlie Chaplin about now.
Thank you for the history lesson behind the picture. It seems like Trump is treating immigrants as less than human too. Part of our history I am not proud of.