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| "The Farmer" (1853), depicting George Washington and His Slaves |
Skloot reports Deborah saying “Like I’m always telling my brothers, if you gonna go into history, you can’t do it with a hate attitude. You got to remember, times was different?”
As a rule, do you think people unfairly judge the actions of historical persons without taking account of the fact that “times were different”? Or do you think that people too often overlook past crimes and forget past wrongs out of laziness, patriotic sentiment, guilt, squeamishness or other less than noble (and often subconscious) motives?
The video below describes the renovated slave quarters at George Washington's Mount Vernon estate.
I think that for the most part, people, Americans in particular, like the excuse the injustices of the past in the name of patriotism. An example of this would be the Tuskegee studies. Why don't we teach about the horrific tragedies of our country's past, particularly the trespasses of middle to upper-class white men? I think Deborah excused the practices of The Hospital for the Negro Insane because she was too weak to deal with the truth of her sister's life and death in the institution. I can't say that I blame her; overlooking trespasses can be a much more painless route. People like to remember the good times and forget about the bad times, but history is history regardless of the act.
ReplyDeleteEmily Davis
As times progress moral standards have changed and developed. What we consider wrong, inhumane, and immoral was not necessarily considered as such when it transpired. Does that make those acts any less wrong? According to our standards certain actions of historical persons were wrong; however,they were not wrong to them. That is not to say that such wrong acts should be forgotten. Such actions should always be remembered to prevent such actions from becoming standard in society again. When viewing history, one should always look at the perspective of time of the time, compare it to our time, and apply it to current life even though it may be easier to overlook aspects of the past.
ReplyDeleteAllon Gillispie
I agree completely. We have to be careful not to criminalize our past. Two hundred years ago, slavery was the norm. That doesn't mean that everyone who held slaves was a bad person or needs to pay for their crimes. It was socially acceptable and even encouraged to have slaves. While we know now that it is completely wrong, we cannot let ourselves degrade the past. The past is over; all we can do is remember our mistakes by teaching that history and move forward trying not to make new mistakes.
DeleteCaleb Savage
I also agree. While we now know that these things are wrong, they were not considered to be so bad at that time. It was socially acceptable until the 'times changed.' In which case, you must view it like it was viewed then. However, we must also keep in mind what we know now, that it is wrong, to prevent such a thing from becoming acceptable again.
DeleteWhat exactly is the danger of "criminalizing" the past or feeling ashamed about the actions of past generations? If our heroes are tarnished by these judgments, what is the loss?
ReplyDelete