James Loewen explaining what secession was all about.

"Of Course the Civil War Was About Slavery"

http://www.miller-mccune.com/culture-society/of-course-the-civil-war-was-about-slavery-26265/

This article was picked up at the History News Network at this link:

http://hnn.us/roundup/entries/134784.html

2. http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2010/12/20-7 Short item about slavery and states' rights.

Haley Barbour and his comments on the White Citizens' Councils. Update, Further Update.

By the way, the White Citizens' Councils did sometime call themselves just that.

Anyways, Haley Barbour in an interview here, http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/boy-yazoo-city_523551.html?page=3, has Barbour explaining that the White Citizens' Council's as a force for good in race relations.

The Internet is having articles popping up all over about it.

Actually, the Citizens' Councils were extremely racist. You can read the entire run of their newspaper here: http://www.citizenscouncils.com/.

Blogger Yglesias here has a review of the Weekly Standard's interview here:

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/2010/12/haley-barbours-affection-for-the-white-supremacist-citizens-council/

Yglesias blog has a link to http://www.citizenscouncils.com/

A lot of blogs are linking to Yglesias' blog which means a lot of people will get a link to the Citizens' Council web page.

UPDATE:

Another interesting article at Salon.com.

http://www.salon.com/news/race/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2010/12/20/haley_barbour_civil_rights

FURTHER UPDATE:

An interesting article by David A. Love. It mentions my Citizens Council website.

http://www.laprogressive.com/rankism/gop-strives-hate-groups-respectable/

"Journal of Society for Commercial Archaeology" publishes article on Jefferson Davis Highway

The exact bibliographic note is, "More Imagined Than Real," Journal of Society for Commercial Archaeology, Vol. 28 No. 2, 2010 Fall, pages 14-19. The author is Euan Hague.

We have another article planned for publication with a very prestigious journal and additionally hope to have a book sometime in the future. I am proposing the title, "The Lost Highway to White Supremacy." I am open to other ideas.

John Stewart and Larry Wilmore on the Sesquicentennial Secession Ball/History in Cambodia

I am getting a hang of clip embedding. This segment by John Stewart and Larry Wilmore is simply hilarious. When Larry Wilmore says "heritage not hate" you are going to be laughing so hard you might want to hold on to your chair.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The South's Secession Commemoration
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

I think video shows how the Lost Cause has really been rejected so thoroughly by such a widespread segment of the nation that it is now being ridiculed openly and emphatically. I also like that they refer to primary source documents.

This is the link to the embedded video, http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-december-9-2010/the-south-s-secession-commemoration

A lot of people probably haven't thought through the issues regarding the Confederacy and neo-Confederate rationalizations. So the Secession Ball has resulted in responses in print and on video that explain what the Confederacy was all about to people who probably didn't know a lot of the historical record and hadn't thought through the Confederate "heritage" rationalizations. In the end the Secession Ball has probably hurt neo-Confederacy more than my two books combined had done so far.

On the more serious side, here is a really interesting article of Cambodia addressing the issues of the history of the Khmer Rouge.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-cambodia-education-20101210,0,1672919.story

Perhaps they can have a Museum of the Khmer Rouge which will be a reliquary for artifacts of that era and hand out prizes to burnish their reputation.

Keith Olbermann on NBC on the Secession Ball in South Carolina

The link is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnXqjsmmqNI

The video segment on the NBC website has been pulled, but you can see it at the above link. Warning some bad language.

What I think is significant is that leading figures are not hesitant to reject Lost Cause rationalizations for neo-Confederacy and are quite quick to belligerently express their opposition.

It will be interesting to see if in opposition to Keith Olbermann some conservative commentators defend the Secession Ball. The website for the ball is here: http://www.scsecessiongala.org/

Trying to reject the Museum of the Confederacy.

I wrote four letters to the judges for the Founders Award of the Museum of the Confederacy (MOC) asking that my new book, "The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader," not be considered for any prize from the MOC. I copied all the letters and sent them with a cover letter to S. Waite Rawls. I sent all five mailings by certified post. I wrote this letter because I got word that they would consider it for an award if copies were sent to the four judges. In fact copies of the book were asked for by the MOC and copies are going to be sent to them by my publisher over my strongly stated objections.

This is the URL for the book:

http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1338

Unfortunately it seems that they are going to consider the book for the award anyway. As was explained by John Coski, in an email sent to me earlier today, it isn't my decision. Of course they are right, it is their award and I don't have a say, but I was hoping my letter to them would bring sure rejection of any award.

This is an eventuality that I didn't plan for and at this time, I don't have a plan other then it is probably time I did writing critical of the MOC. I am very unhappy over this possibility. I am thinking of an emergency plan. I suppose this blog post is the first step. I really don't want any book of mine to receive an award from the MOC. I am going to write about an interesting speech at the MOC about the MOC published in the Southern Partisan as the next step.

The following is the text of the letter sent to four judges and copies of each letter sent to S. Waite Rawls.

Dear XXX:

I am writing you to tell you that I do not want any book of mine to be considered for any award by the Museum of the Confederacy. More specifically I don’t want “The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader,” co-edited by Edward H. Sebesta and James Loewen, University Press of Mississippi considered for an award by the Museum of the Confederacy either for 2010, or in the future.

Not to be presumptuous that the “Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader,” would win any award from the Museum of the Confederacy, but if the book did win some type of award, I would reject the award publically and use the occasion to criticize the Museum of the Confederacy.

Finally, I should let you know that in debate with James McPherson, noted Civil War historian, I have spoken out against the Museum of the Confederacy on Pacifica Radio Network.


Sincerely Yours,


You would think that would be enough to put an end to any consideration, but evidently not.

As a preliminary to better understand my opposition to the MOC I suggest people might read www.templeofdemocracy.com/breaking.htm.

The Grio has an article on neo-Confederates. "Reader" mentioned

It is a nice article by David A. Love at The Grio, a NBC website.

http://www.thegrio.com/politics/why-celebrate-secession-civil-war-revisionists-sidestep-slavery.php?page=1

It is two pages so click to the next page.

David A. Love is Executive Editor at www.blackcommentator.com.

James Loewen, Heidi Beirich, Euan Hague and I mentioned in article on Neo-Confederates in "Mother Jones" magazine

Adam Weinstein has an article about neo-Confederates and the Sesquicentennial in "Mother Jones" at this link:

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/12/video-confederate-cool-again-south-slavery-lincoln

James Loewen, Heidi Beirich, Euan Hague and I are mentioned as "great historians" with a link to my blog where they can find out about both books.

James Loewen in the "New York Times" on Secession

The "New York Times" had an article titled, "Celebrating Secession Without Slaves." Didn't use the word neo-Confederate. Discusses the celebrations of the Confederacy and the omission of the issue of slavery. Loewen's picture is with the article.

Article is here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/us/30confed.html

James Loewen says:

Most historians say it is impossible to carve out slavery from the context of the war. As James W. Loewen, a liberal sociologist and author of “Lies My Teacher Told Me,” put it: “The North did not go to war to end slavery, it went to war to hold the country together and only gradually did it become anti-slavery — but slavery is why the South seceded.”

In its secession papers, Mississippi, for example, called slavery “the greatest material interest of the world” and said that attempts to stop it would undermine “commerce and civilization.”

The story got picked up and seems to be everywhere on the Internet. Ta-Nehisi Coates commented on the New York Times article with an extensive quote from our book.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/11/they-have-encouraged-and-assisted-thousands-of-our-slaves/67190/

Mr. Coates is using our book just the way it was intended to be used. When some neo-Confederate makes his wild historical claims, you can just quote the Confederates in their own words, and dispel the neo-Confederates' stuff and nonsense.

History News Network picked up on the story in Breaking News here:
http://hnn.us/roundup/comments/134085.html

Generally the book hasn't been mentioned, but some people will take the initiative and find Loewen's books including our book.

It isn't even 2011 yet, and it seems that the Sesquicentennial will be very different than the Centennial of the Civil War. No neo-Confederate nonsense seems to be the theme.

The undesirable practice of cursing, swearing, etc.

I avoid cursing and swearing and even in anger generally don't swear or curse. It becomes a bad habit in people. I certainly don't see it as acceptable in writing, unless you were writing about cursing, writing about some one's cursing, or writing about language. A novelist can use these words as part of realistic dialog. A realist novelist of the 21st century could hardly avoid it.

I also don't find cursing or swearing or obscenities or blasphemies acceptable by using asterisks or acronyms. I find this so so stupid and idiotic. You either are expressing the concept or not.

I am going to use the term "swear" as a catch all for swearing, use of obscenitites, cursing, and blasphemies.

Recently I found a reputable Civil War blogger having used an obscenity in one of his posts.

http://cwmemory.com/2010/11/23/scv-fund-medical-research-or-wtf/

Not a single commentator pointed out the obscenity or critcized it. I was surprised at both the obscenity and the lack of criticism of it.

I subsequently realized this morning that one of the benefits of researching neo-Confederates on the internet is that generally they don't swear.

So I am going to explain why swearing is bad. Some this argument are some things taught to me by teachers, but some I think you will recognize as uniquely my own. I give these four reasons.

1. It has no affect. Especially in contemporary society, where swearing is so common it has no effect. It used to be insulting in that in using such terms against a person was seen as insulting to that person's class. However, now, swearing is just tuned out. After the first term is uttered, the brain just thinks, "take note, person upset with me," and nothing more. After that point swearing is just adding hot air to the room.

Swearing doesn't add a sense of exclamation to your expression.

However, an insult without swearing, will engage the attention of the person to whom it is directed. It will be more deadly in effect, if you think exactly what you wish to criticize and conceive your insult to express that. I would also always call attention to a person's swearing if being sworn at with some expression like, "What a gutter mouth!" They may not react in your presence to what you said, but they will think of it, when they swear.

Some insults can have interesting delayed impacts. Sometimes I say to an obnoxious person, "I hope your children grow up just like you." I say this clearly in the context of my hoping something bad happens to them. They are puzzled, they have to assemble the insult in their minds, and then they realize what the insult is, and they had to think through the insult, and thereby hear it, and remember it. Sometimes they are stunned.

My favorite rejoinder to the expression, "I will never speak (or whatever) to you (or here) again," is "Promises, Promises."

However, have your comment speak to the issue at hand and perhaps a little personal insult thrown in. The vulgar person might bay "bull shit," but I would say, "Your argument, like yourself, totally lacks logic and reason." "Nonsense" or "Nonsensesical" isn't bad, but doesn't sting, but keeps you from saying stupid things like "bs." "Stuff and nonsense" is an old classic. What someone is saying might be a sham, or a rationalization, or a pretense. An insulting remark that speaks to the issue is powerful. You might say, "This is just a rationalization which I don't find surprising coming from you."

When you stop swearing you insults will tend to be more deadly and you should consider when using them. You might want to just say, as a modification of one the above insults, "Your rationalizations tire me." You are still saying what he is saying is a rationalization, and that it isn't surprising coming from him, but further it is a continuing practice such that you are tired by it. You establish that you are the injured party and your insult is now a plea, lessening anger, but still really an insult.

In the case where swearing isn't for insults, but for an expressions of exclamation, it isn't necessary also. You can say, "I am flabbergasted," or "Jumping Jupiters" or "OMG" or "what in the world." There are a lot of fun expressions to do this.

2. It is aethetically unpleasing. Think of swearing as defecating through your mouth. Sorry for this foul image, but I wish to make this point forcefully. It is also accurate.

3. It is intellectually lazy and represents intellectual laziness or it means you are so upset you have lost control of your thoughts. Swearing can imply that it doesn't take much to get you to lose control of your thoughts, since you are shallow, when the provocation isn't much.

4. It can represent a limited range of being able to express yourself.

Finally, there are some who think swearing makes them more authentic, or more of the people, or something like that. It is insulting to everyday people. It is slumming. It is an affectation.

History News Network Banner ad for "The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader"

We have a banner ad for "The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader" on the front page of the History News Network.

http://www.hnn.us/

Positive Book Review in the "Journal of Southern History"

The book, "Neo-Confederacy: A Critical Introduction," got a very favorable review in the Journal of Southern History.

The book review by Charles J. Holden is online here:

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Neo-Confederacy%3A+A+Critical+Introduction.-a0242380183

Some quotes: (Note comment about juvenile emotionalism)

The contributors to Neo-Confederacy: A Critical Introduction show admirable patience and steadiness with their subject matter: the often frantic, willfully ignorant, and paranoia-laced movement among some white southerners toward modern-day secession. This even, strong volume of essays, edited by Euan Hague, Heidi Beirich, and Edward H. Sebesta, explores the cultural, historical, gendered, white supremacist, and political components of the neo-Confederate ideology. The authors painstakingly explicate the writings and speeches of the main neo-Confederates such as Clyde Wilson, John Shelton Reed, Michael Hill, and other leading figures of the Council of Conservative Citizens and the League of the South.

And;

Again, there is much to admire in the tone adopted throughout Neo-Confederacy. The editors and authors carefully point out the slender grasp of historical fact, the political insecurities, and the juvenile emotionalism that appear to fuel so much of the neo-Confederate movement.

The word about the neo-Confederate movement is getting out there.

I was informed today that the publishers of the "Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader" have just contacted 3700 professors about the book.

The "Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader" recommended on the Zinn Education Project web site

The link is here:

http://zinnedproject.org/posts/6866

From the "About" page. http://zinnedproject.org/about

The Zinn Education Project promotes and supports the use of Howard Zinn’s best-selling book A People’s History of the United States and other materials for teaching a people’s history in middle and high school classrooms across the country. The Zinn Education Project is coordinated by two non-profit organizations, Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change.

Its goal is to introduce students to a more accurate, complex, and engaging understanding of United States history than is found in traditional textbooks and curricula. The empowering potential of studying U.S. history is often lost in a textbook-driven trivial pursuit of names and dates. Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States and Voices of a People’s History of the United States emphasize the role of working people, women, people of color, and organized social movements in shaping history. Students learn that history is made not by a few heroic individuals, but instead by people’s choices and actions, thereby also learning that their own choices and actions matter.

We believe that through taking a more engaging and more honest look at the past, we can help equip students with the analytical tools to make sense of — and improve — the world today. For a more complete description, read A People’s History, A People’s Pedagogy.

In 2008, with support from an anonymous donor, the Zinn Education Project distributed 4,000 free packets for teaching people’s history to educators across the country. In a follow-up survey, the recipients requested more resources, which led to the creation of this upgraded website to provide teaching materials online. Read the full report (in PDF) on the distribution of the 4,000 packets here.


The word about what the Confederacy and neo-Confederacy was really about is getting out.

Falsifying photos to create Afro-Confederate soldiers.

At the following URL is a fascinating story of detective work titled, "The Modern Falsification of a Civil War Photograph."

http://www.retouchinghistory.org/

I think the investigators reveal an example of misrepresentation that is fairly typical for what passes as neo-Confederate scholarship regarding so-called black Confederate soldiers.

"How Obama should remember the Confederacy ..." Ed Sebesta in the "Washingtonian"

The article is here:

http://www.washingtonian.com/blogarticles/17300.html

The title is "A War to Remember - but How?: How Obama should remember the Confederacy as the 150th anniversary of the Civil War approaches" and is by Cragg Hines.

From the article:

The President may need all the historical understanding he can muster as the nation begins to mark the Civil War’s 150th anniversary next spring and our first African-American chief executive becomes a focus.

For Obama to take a leading role in commemorating the Civil War “is what Americans expect—it’s what the world expects,” says Frank Smith, founding director of DC’s African American Civil War Memorial & Museum. But as McDonnell’s misstep illustrated, politicians had best proceed carefully when dealing with a war that many historians see as the most divisive—and decisive—time in the nation’s development.

“It’s not only appropriate but necessary for the President to recognize it in a relatively forceful way,” says S. Waite Rawls III, president of the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond.

Obama already knows the sort of controversy that can flare up. Over the protest of academics, he has continued the tradition of sending a Memorial Day wreath to the Confederate Monument at Arlington Cemetery. His response to complaints was also to send one to the African American Civil War Memorial on DC’s U Street.

For those wishing to read the 2009 and 2010 letters to Obama requesting him not to send a wreath to the Arlington Confederate Monument you can read them at this blog. http://arlingtonconfederatemonument.blogspot.com/

The individual letters are at these URLs:

For 2009:

http://arlingtonconfederatemonument.blogspot.com/2010/03/2009-letter-to-president-obama.html

For 2010:

http://arlingtonconfederatemonument.blogspot.com/2010/02/2010-letter-to-president-obama.html

There is a 2011 letter that is in progress and there will be a questionnaire sent to all the potential presidential candidates for the 2012 election.

The questionnaire is online here:

http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2010/10/questionnaire-for-2012-presidential_15.html

James Loewen interviews regarding "The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader"

The word is getting out all over the nation about what the Confederacy is all about.

James Loewen is interviewed by the Santa Fe Radio Cafe' here:

http://www.santaferadiocafe.org/podcasts/?p=997

And by Remapping the Debate in the following video:

http://remappingdebate.org/video/james-loewen-telling-truth-about-confederates-and-their-latter-day-sympathizers

This is a five part video and the total time is over 70 minutes, but since they divided it into five segments you can view it by parts and not sit through all 70+ minutes at once.

James Loewen on "Mississippi Edition" of Mississippi Public Broadcasting

The book segment comes on at 17:40 in the online edition of "Mississippi Edition."

http://mpbonline.org/mississippiedition/shows/thursday-nov-4-2010

It was originally broadcast on November 4, 2010. This program plays at 8:30 am in the morning so a lot of commuters can hear it as well as persons at home.

Incidentally, I will be adding more material to http://www.confederatepastpresent.org/ as I get time, have been tied up with two writing projects.

"Jackson Free Press" reviews "Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader"

The online review of the book is here:

http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/index.php/site/comments/back_to_the_source_110310/

From the review:

"Mississippi’s is quite clear: “In the momentous step which our State has taken of dissolving its connection with the government of which we so long formed a part, it is but just that we should declare the prominent reasons which have induced our course. Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery, the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of the commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization.”

Loewen and Sebesta also include a number of speeches made before, during and immediately after the war. They all embody a single theme: the need to protect the institution of slavery. On April 29, 1861, Jefferson Davis delivered one of the most important speeches of the time, when he urged the Confederate Congress to adopt the proposed Confederate Constitution. The speech was a long one, though clearly Davis felt the need to lay out in great detail the historical events that led to secession. The entire speech was about slavery.

In this excerpt, Davis took great pains to defend the practice: “Under the mild and genial climate of the Southern States and the increasing care and attention for the well-being and comfort of the laboring classes, dictated alike by interest and humanity, the African slaves had augmented in number from about 600,000 at the date of the adoption of the constitutional compact to upward of 4,000,000.

“In moral and social condition they had been elevated from brutal savages into docile, intelligent and civilized agricultural laborers, and supplied not only with bodily comforts but with careful religious instruction. Under the supervision of a superior race their labor had been so directed ...”

What comes across after reading the documents Loewen and Sebesta have compiled is the clear sense that southern leaders were proud of what they had accomplished on the backs of millions of slaves. They had convinced themselves that white was superior to black, even ordained and blessed by God.

In the review, the reviewer makes reference to the Mississippi controversy over its flag. Jackson is the capitol of Mississippi, and the Jackson Free Press is the cities alternative weekly. Intelligent and educated people in that city will come to know of the book and its contents and realize that they have the material to support a challenge to the Mississippi state flag. As this book becomes known about in Mississippi, there will be a realization that the present Mississippi state flag is intolerable.

2010 Election Returns with a focus on the issue of neo-Confederacy

I will update this posting as the election results come in.

1. Tom Tancredo is projected to lose the race for the Colorado governor. He ran as a candidate of the American Constitution Party which is involved with neo-Confederate ideology.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/02/AR2010110207744.html

Though it is disturbing that about one out of three voted for a person who is totally irresponsible and whose political philosophy is to inflame.

2. Rand Paul, son of neo-Confederate Ron Paul has won the election to be a U.S. Senator from Kentucky. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/03/us/politics/03kentucky.html

3. Texas governor Rick Perry who talked about secession has won relection.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-11-02/texas-republican-governor-perry-re-elected-ap-says.html

Halloween Special: "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" a book even less believable than Thomas DiLorenzo's book.

I know that it is hard to believe that any book on Lincoln could be more unbelievable than Thomas DiLorenzo's book on Lincoln, but that just shows the limits of our imaginations. With "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," I think you have to admit that the author has outdone DiLorenzo, though perhaps only marginally.

There is a new genre in which classics are rewritten as horror novels. For example there is the book, "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" a rewrite of the Jane Austen novel. You can read about it here.

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1889075,00.html

or this article:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-zombies4-2009apr04,0,4685367.story

Evidently the book is selling quite well and there is a bidding war for the movie rights. (Or a movie may be already be forthcoming since the above article was published.) So the author of "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," Seth Grahame-Smith, wrote another book, "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" which is selling well and its going to be made into a movie.

This is the "Los Angeles Times" article on it.

http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2010/03/05/abraham-lincoln-vampire-hunter/


The following URL is for an article about it being made into a movie.

http://www.movieweb.com/news/NExeLO9wCkfzAF

Evidently 20th Century Fox is scheduled to release the film June 22, 2012.

There is something hilarious about how this pseudo-history that is so fantastic and unbelievable. Perhaps Seth Grahame-Smith was inspired by reading neo-Confederate accounts of black Confederates and realized that the sky is the limit for invented history. After all if it can be claimed that Stonewall Jackson had two black battalions why not have Abraham Lincoln be a vampire hunter?

The book is evidently selling quite well and there is actually a trailer for the movie that is in the works. On Youtube it has had over 400,000 viewers. The URL is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X58RPS665V0. The YouTube version is larger than what I can fit into this blog.




In the book and the movie the Confederates are on the side of the vampires. Someone should alert the Sons of Confederate Veterans that there is a heritage violation.

It should be observed that this book is no more fantastical or outlandish than the claim put forth by the Sons of the Confederate Veterans that Abraham Lincoln was part of a communist conspiracy. I quote them here in another blog at this URL: http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2010/01/was-lincoln-communist-scv-neo.html

So Seth Grahame-Smith is only marginally, if at all, more fantastical than the Sons of Confederate Veterans writings of black Confederates, claims of a Communist Lincoln, and of course the usual claim that the Confederates didn't secede over slavery.

Happy Halloween, don't eat too many marshmallow pumpkins.

Update: This web page covers the other "Monster Mashups" of the classics and the horror genre. The titles are a hoot to read, such as "Little Women and Werewolves."

http://fremontlibraries.wordpress.com/2010/04/28/13-book-monster-mash-up-type-things/

Watch this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jZVE5uF24Q

Bruce Levine demolishes myth of Black Confederate soldiers in the "Washington Post"

Bruce Levine, demolishes the myth of Black Confederate soldiers in an article in the Washington Post and you can read it at this link:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-opinions/2010/10/the_myth_of_the_black_confeder.html

It will be in the print version of the Post tomorrow, Sunday, 10/30/10.

Bruce Levine is the author of "Confederate Emancipation: Southern Plans to Free and Arm Slaves During the Civil War," pub. Oxford University Press. It is an excellent book.

This is the link to it at Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Confederate-Emancipation-Southern-Slaves-during/dp/0195147626/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1288487996&sr=1-1

The Sons of Confederate Veterans had a book review by Cassie A. Barrow criticizing the book in the Confederate Veteran, Sept./Oct. 2006, page 46. I sent a copy to Bruce Levine who was greatly amused by it.

Commercial Sponsors of the Council of Conservative Citizens

These are the sponsors in the newspaper of the Council of Conservative Citizens, www.cofcc.com.

1. Peoples Bank & Trust Co., North Carrolton, Mississippi.

2. All American Realty & Insurance, Rupert E. Dunkum, Webster, Florida.

3. Harry Sanders Grocery & Market, North Carrolton, Mississippi.

4. Hudson Flower Shop, Calhoun City, Mississippi.

5. Gaines B. Smith, Jewelers Inc. Batesville, Mississippi.

6. Swiney's Barber Shop, St. Ann, Missouri.

7. A.J. Barker Window and Siding Company, Clemmons, NC.

8. The Crystal Grill, Greenwood, Mississippi.

9. Q-Ball's Bar-B-Que, Indianola, Mississippi.

10. Stanford's Farm & Feed, Carrolton, Mississippi.

11. Christopher JM Cummins, MD, Ripley, Mississippi.

The delusions of the Council of Conservative Citizens and genetics.

With the sequencing of the nuclear chromosomes and the genetic material of the mitochondria science has gained a lot of information on the relatedness of peoples and species and a window back in time. In the pages of Science magazine, the publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and of which I have been a subscriber to for 20 years at least, the new revelations of genetic sequencing have come to light. Also, in Scientific American, another prestigious publication, the discoveries of genetic sequencing have been reported.

Some of the genetic material in us isn't very critical and seems to be along for the ride, and some of the other material is of course critical and if mutated is the cause for so many diseases. Though exactly what isn't really critical continues to be a subject of discovery and further investigations. Then there is epigenetics which is a whole other level of complexity.

The mitochondria are inherited from the mother, though there was some discussion whether in rare occasions a mitochondria might come from the father, but I never did read what the end of that discussion was. This DNA can be sequenced, it exists in a circle in the mitochondria, and since it isn't involved in reshuffling in sexual reproduction from two sources it is a great source of information to trace evolutionary relatedness.

Changes in this mitochondrial DNA is solely through mutations and the variations in the non-critical parts changes over time. You can thus with sequences map the relatedness of the human species. Of course scientists understanding that they could do so did so and what they found was that in the scheme of things everyone outside of Africa were part of a sub-sub group, I am not sure how many subdivisions down, of one of the African groups. Africans are divided into three groups with a lot of mitochondiral differences. Out of Africa is a scientific reality.

A scientific question over the years has been whether Neanderthals and modern humans ever interbred and the debate has gone back and forth. DNA sequencing a piece of tissue left from a Neanderthal would help resolve this. However, there are real problems in doing so. As the DNA is older it is degraded and results less clear. Also, you have to make sure that the sample isn't contaminated by human DNA such as the dead skin cells people are shedding all the time.

However, recently one researcher has done an analysis, reportedly successfully in the scientific press, and has come up with 4%. This is a very interesting result, but needs some replication since it is just one sample and one analysis. Once we have three or four analyses and similar numbers we can start to perceive this as result which more confidence can be placed.

However, the goofologists at the Conservative Citizens Council at the following link see this one scientific result as the basis of delusional claims. http://cofcc.org/2010/10/new-discoveries-disprove-out-of-africa-myth/

"The “Out of Africa” theory was not created by actual scientists. It was cooked up by left-wing college administrators and forced onto the science departments. It was a myth designed to promote the left-wing agenda on multiculturalism. Every new discovery in the fields of anthropology and genetics continue to completely disprove this left-wing fantasy. Europeans and Asians have substantial amounts of Neanderthal ancestry, while Sub-Saharan Africans do not. Further, the Neanderthal genome project has revived the groups placement as “proto-Caucasian.” Neanderthal can be divided into at least three regional sub-groups. Some Neanderthal, at least those living in Europe had members with fair skin and red hair."

First there is the denial of years of scientific research and publication, with the claim that the conclusion of this research was "cooked up by left-wing college administrators." Then there is the claim of "substantial amounts of Neanderthal ancestry," instead of mentioning it is just 4%.

The mitochondrial evidence is real and not subject to hysterical delusion and exists as scientific evidence independent from nuclear genetic material.

However, these http://www.cofcc.org/ posts just show that what passes for scientific thinking among the members of that organization's membership is actually some type of crazed racism grasping for straws and has no understanding of the underlying science involved.

Update: It occurs to me that it is somewhat ironic that the Council of Conservative Citizens which is hysterically aghast over interracial relations, regards very positively interspecies or perhaps it might be called intersubspecies relations.

James Loewen on National Public Radio on the myth of Black Confederates

Jim was on NPR this morning on the topic of the bogus Black Confederate claim being in a school text book.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130744788

The Confederates were fairly hostile to the idea of any African American troops until the last few weeks of the Civil War when they were really desperate.

Charles Kelly Barrow is so pathetic when he says, "Some people just don't like the truth." Would that include Robert E. Lee? Robert E. Lee towards the very end of the Civil War wrote a letter endorsing the idea of Afro-Confederate troops saying that it would be better for the Confederacy if they freed slaves under their terms than the Union doing so.

Was Robert E. Lee a liar and there were thousands of African American troops all along? Or was Robert E. Lee a heritage violator and wanted to defame the Confederacy? Or was Robert E. Lee out of touch?

Mr. Barrow would that include the Confederate Veteran magazine of 1893 to 1932? In more than one article, the Confederate Veteran discusses the issue of Black Confederate troops and the opposition to them and how they weren't adopted until the very end. Was the Confederate Veteran not liking the truth about Confederate history? Were the individual Confederate veterans heritage violators?

Though, this constant claim of Afro-Confederate troops has a good benefit. It discredits the neo-Confederates generally as being deluded and bogus.

James Loewen and the Filson Historical Conference on Secession in the "Louisville Courier-Journal"

The Louisville Courier-Journal has a lengthy article about the Filson Historical Conference on secession and James Loewen at this link.

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20101018/FEATURES06/310180021

From the article:

"Loewen will give the opening address of the three-day conference, which begins Thursday at the Filson Historical Society.

The conference topic, “Secessions: From the American Revolution to the Civil War,” coincides with the 150th anniversary of South Carolina's secession from the Union and will explore moments in U.S. history when Americans threatened or acted upon a perceived right to secede from state or national authorities."

"In true Loewenesque fashion, the University of Vermont professor's address is titled “Lies My Teacher Told Me About Secession.”

Questionnaire for the 2012 Presidential Candidates

This is the questionnaire for the 2012 Presidential Candidates. The results will be posted online. We are writing up briefing papers about the questions in the questionnaire, a briefing paper on the neo-Confederate movement, and a briefing paper on the presidents and the Confederacy starting with Franklin D. Roosevelt to the present.

Of course there is a question, #8, about sending a wreath to the Arlington Confederate monument.

The question about secession may seem a little crazy, but we already have the Governor Rick Perry talking about secession and a Minnesota Republican Congressional district convention passed a resolution that a state had a right to secede. Secession is back as an issue in politics.

There were other questions we might have asked, but we wanted the questionnaire to be short. Also, these twelve questions will give a fairly good indication where a candidate stands in general regarding the Confederacy and neo-Confederacy.

We will likely start sending out the questionnaires after the November elections.

The questionnaire is as follows:

2012 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE NEO-CONFEDERACY QUESTIONNAIRE

INTRODUCTION:

The questions are divided into two sections. The first section pertains to how neo-Confederacy impacts policy; the second seciton contains cultural questions in which the issue is who we are.

POLICY:

1. Do you support the 14th Amendment to the Constitution in its entirety?

Yes, No, Undecided, Other

2. Do you think that nullification is a legitimate action?

Yes, No, Undecided, Other

3. Do you think a state has a right to secede?

Yes, No, Undecided, Other

4. As President would you nominate or appoint a person who is a member of a neo-Confederate organization such as the Sons of Confederate Veterans, League of the South, United Daughters of the Confederacy, or Council of Conservative Citizens to any position in the Federal government or judiciary?

Yes, No, Undecided, Other.

If Yes, to what positions might you appoint or nominate a neo-Confederate?

5. As President would you oppose the involvement of neo-Confederate organizations such as the Sons of Confederate Veterans, League of the South, United Daughters of the Confederacy, and the Council of Conservative Citizen in the Reserve Officer Training Corps or the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps?

Yes, No, Undecided, Other.

6. As President would you oppose the U.S. military participation in the activities of neo-Confederate organizations such as the Sons of Confederate Veterans, League of the South, United Daughters of the Confederacy, and the Council of Conservative Citizens?

Yes, No, Undecided, Other.

CULTURAL

7. Are you a member, regular, associate, honorary, or otherwise of a neo-Confederate organization such as the Sons of Confederate Veterans, League of the South, United Daughters of the Confederacy, and the Council of Conservative Citizens?

Yes, No, Undecided, Other.

8. As President would you send a wreath to the Arlington Confederate monument?

Yes, No, Undecided, Other.

9. As President would you fly or display the Confederate flag at the White House or elsewhere?

Yes, No, Undecided, Other.

10. As President would you declare a day, week, or a month of Confederate memorialization?

Yes, No, Undecided, Other.

11. As President would you participate in a celebration, observance, or ceremony to honor, memorialize, or celebrate the Confederacy or a member of the Confederacy or send a representative to do so?

Yes, No, Undecided, Other.

12. As President would you support having Civil War battlefield parks explain the role of slavery in the Civil War?

Yes, No, Undecided, Other.

"A Talk With James Loewen" on Univ. Press of Miss. Video Website

"A Talk with James Loewen" is at this link.

http://vimeo.com/15789951

James Loewen discusses our new book, "The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader: The 'Great Truth' About the 'Lost Cause'" in this video.

A historical group of Nazi re-enactors, claim not to be pro-Nazi

It turns out that one of the GOP's congressional candidates is a member of a group that does re-enactments of Nazi's and white washes their history.

The link is here:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/10/why-is-this-gop-house-candidate-dressed-as-a-nazi/64319/

Read the article. Does it remind you of any "heritage" groups that you know?

Questionnaire for the 2012 Presidential Candidates

The Committee Against Neo-Confederacy will be sending out a questionnaire on neo-Confederacy to the 2012 Presidential candidates. Of course there will be a question about the Arlington Confederate Monument and wreath sending, but there will be eleven other questions for a total of twelve questions.

The cover letter has been written and the questions have been defined. We started with 20 or so and whittled them down to twelve questions. These questions may not cover every issue, but I think that answers to the questionnaire will give a person a fairly good picture as to where the candidate stands.

What isn't complete is the briefing and background information papers which will go to journalists. We are still working on these papers. We will want to have a brief paper on what neo-Confederacy is, I don't expect reporters to want to read a book. We need to write up a back ground for each question. We are also going to have a paper with background information on the presidents and the Confederacy and neo-Confederacy from Franklin D. Roosevelt to the present. I have accumulated materials over the years and have some interesting materials.

The questionnaire is about where America is heading and about what direction the presidential candidate would take America if elected. It isn't about debating the 19th century or the president's interpretations or understanding of 19th century history. It is about who we are and where we are going which is something everyone is interested in.

So we have the questions in two sections, one section concerns policy, and the other concerns national identity, what type of nation we think we are. Once a nation has an idea of who they think they are and what type of nation they should be, politics, policy, actions are largely derivitive actions.

I think we have fairly good chances of getting a response to our questionnaire. There are a great many candidates for the presidency on the Republican side and I think one or two would be interested in answering our questionnaire, if only to differentiate themselves from the pack. Republican candidates for South Carolina governor met with a neo-Confederate front group to be video taped as to their views on the Confederacy among other topics. The South Carolina presidential primary is a critical gate in the primary season for presidential candidate and after New Hampshire, an opportunity for a candidate to gain the lead. George W. Bush derailed John McCain's presidential aspirations in 2000 by having a pro-Confederate flag front group attack McCain. Huckabee when campaigning there in the 2008 presidential primary wanted to make sure that voters knew that he supported the Confederate flag. I suspect that neo-Confederate groups are already planning a questionnaire or video interviews to screen the presidential candidates as they did the candidates for governor of South Carolina.

On the Democratic side, there well may be some other candidates besides President Obama in the next primary cycle and who might want to answer the questionnaire.

We are working on all the papers to have them ready by Nov. 2010. The campaign for the presidency I think really starts in January 2011. The mid-term elections will be over, the holidays will be over, and the new congress in session.

We will post the questionnaire later.

2011 Letter to the President concerning the Arlington Confederate Monument

There will be a letter in 2011 to the President concerning the Arlington Confederate Monument.

This blog will keep you updated as things develop.

http://arlingtonconfederatemonument.blogspot.com/

Also, at this blog you can read the letters of 2009 and 2010, or you can read them at the History News Network.

I think in 2011 we will be able to garner a great many more signatures for a variety of factors. The second book is out and a great many people are reading it. I have two new web sites for scholars and students to use as a research resource. It means when I "cold call" for a signature, it is going to be much easier to get a dialog going and get support.

Giving up Neo-Confederacy by the Virginia GOP

This very interesting article in in the Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/02/AR2010100203167.html

Governor McDonnell and former Gov. George Allen publicly reject Confederate History Month. However, it is not clear whether State Attorney General Cuccinelli has given up Confederate History Month.

James Loewen signs "Reader" at Lemuria Books in Jackson, Mississippi

James Loewen will be signing copies of "The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader" and doing a reading, at Lemuria Books in Jackson, MS, Oct. 11, 2010.

The event notice is here:

http://www.lemuriabooks.com/index.php?show=events&id=1351

Some of James Loewen's engagements can be viewed at his website: http://sundown.afro.illinois.edu/

The "Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader" recommended by www.rethinkingschools.org and www.teachingforchange.org

The word is getting out there! These two groups reach thousands of teachers across the United States, and the teachers will reach hundreds of thousands of students and the students will go on to let many more know about the historical truth of the Civil War. We are moving on in broadcast media, in print, in the classroom, and elsewhere.

This is the web page of "Rethinking Schools" recommending our book.

http://rethinkingschools.org/archive/25_01/25_01_resources.shtml

This is the notice which will be in the Fall 2010 print edition as well as the web page.

The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader: “The Great Truth” About the “Lost Cause” Edited by James W. Loewen and Edward H. Sebesta(University Press of Mississippi, 2010)424 pp., $25

James Loewen, author of Lies My Teacher Told Me, co-edited this collection of primary documents because the story they tell about the Civil War is not found in textbooks. The editors explain that “the declarations supplied by the 11 Confederate states as they left the union are among the most important documents in the history of our nation.” Yet not only do textbooks avoid the documents, “the accounts they provide contradict the historical record.”

The result is widespread misinformation about the cause of the Civil War. In surveys across the country, Loewen found that the great majority of audiences (including teachers) thought states’ rights was the cause. Only 15 percent named the preservation of slavery as the key factor. In addition to a well-organized and annotated collection of primary documents, the editors provide background on when and why the narrative about the causes of the Civil War was rewritten in American consciousness.

And this is the web page of Teaching for Change recommending our book.

http://www.teachingforchange.org/news/loewen

This is the online article.

On September 20, 2010, James Loewen, author of Lies My Teacher Told Me, spoke to a full house at Busboys and Poets about his new book The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader: “The Great Truth” About the “Lost Cause" (University Press of Mississippi, 2010). The event was coordinated by Teaching for Change’s Busboys and Poets Bookstore. Co-edited with Edward H. Sebesta, this book is a collection of primary documents on the Civil War. Loewen explained that, “the declarations supplied by the 11 Confederate states as they left the union are among the most important documents in the history of our nation.” Yet not only do textbooks avoid the documents, “the accounts they provide contradict the historical record.” The result is widespread misinformation about the cause of the Civil War.

Loewen opened the evening with a one-question, multiple choice survey, explaining that everyone had to vote and that they could only vote once. The question was: “Why did the Southern states secede?” and the audience had to select from four options: slavery, states’ rights, election of Lincoln, tariffs and taxes. At Busboys and Poets, the majority selected slavery. Loewen said this response was highly unusual. He has conducted this survey with audiences across the country and the vast majority (including teachers) selected states’ rights as the cause. Only 15 percent named the most correct answer, the preservation of slavery, as the key factor. In his talk he described when the myth of states’ rights as the cause developed and why.
There was a lively discussion following his talk, with audience members thanking Loewen for providing this invaluable resource and asking how to help use the book to shift public understanding. A 5th grade teacher from EL Haynes Public Charter School, Mr. Kiplinger, said that when people tell him the motive is “states’ rights”, he asks them, “Which states’ rights?” Invariably they respond “The right to own slaves.” This answer helps him point out that therefore slavery was really the root cause or motive.

Author Richard Morris wrote about the event on his blog and commented, “Once again, Barbara and I were delighted to travel to Busboys & Poets at 14th and V Streets in Washington, D.C. on Monday evening to hear this consummate truth-teller make another compelling presentation to a packed audience.”

The book has been a best-seller at Teaching for Change’s Busboys and Poets Bookstore and is available from our webstore.

"Civil War to Civil Rights" A great new project of the National Park Service.

I was notified of this great National Park Service project this morning. I provide some links and comments following this notice.

CIVIL WAR TO CIVIL RIGHTS

A NATIONAL DIGITAL HISTORY PROJECT FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

The coming year, 2011, marks the 150th anniversary of president-elect Abraham Lincoln's inaugural train trip from Springfield, Illinois to Washington, DC and the presidency of a nation on the eve of civil war.

Inspired by that anniversary, the National Park Service invites high schools classes to join in a national digital project on the broader theme of inaugurations - new beginnings.

The National Park Service invites students to create short digital narratives on one of three themes:

* My area in 1861 - using maps, photos, illustrations, census
data, telling incidents from local newspapers, and (if available) national parks materials - students will create a portrait of where they live as it was just before Lincoln set off to Washington.
* A civil rights hero from my area one hundred years later, in
1961, -- by seeking out and interviewing a veteran of the struggle for equal rights, or finding existing oral histories, and/or maps, photos, illustrations, census data, and local news stories and national parks materials, students will tell the story of someone in their area who brought about change in the 1960s.
* The road ahead - students will define the changes they intend to
inaugurate in their adult lives.

Narratives will be gathered from schools throughout the nation and placed on a special National Park Service website. Participating students, their communities, and a broad national parks audience of all ages will then be able to use the site as window into key moments in our national life, as they were experienced locally, and as a virtual memorial for the momentous journey upon which President Lincoln embarked 150 years ago.

This project was developed by Dr. Marc Aronson (www.marcaronson.com ) in cooperation with Charles Forcey of Historicus, Inc. In the fall of 2010, the project team will provide a kit on the three themes, primary source samples and suggests, as well as links to Common Core Standards. Materials will be submitted through online forms; technical and editorial support will be available all along the way. A suite of digital resources taken from the National Park Service and Library of Congress sources will be available for all participating schools.

Evidently this is going to be a theme of the National Park Service's observance of the Civil War Sesquicentennial as shown by this item.

http://www.nps.gov/ulsg/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&pageid=202422

If you search on Google for "Civil War to Civil Rights" you see that this is the theme of books and various activities large and small.

James Loewen in Oklahoma & Richmond, VA; Update

OKLAHOMA

James Loewen will be the awards banquet speaker at the annual meeting of the American Association for State and Local History in Oklahoma City, OK.

Friday, Sept. 24, 6:30 to 9:30 pm.

http://www.aaslh.org/am2010.htm

I think among other things the word about "The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader" will get out to historians across the nation.

UPDATE: The AASLH was a sellout for the "Reader." Additionally, some major contacts were made potentially opening up new venues for the book.

RICHMOND

Also, James Loewen will be speaking in Richmond, Virginia on Oct. 7, 2010 at an event of the Richmond Diversity Network and the Virginia Commonwealth University. It will be 10:00 am to 3pm at St. Catherine's School. The topic is "Lies My Teacher Told Me and How to Do Better."

http://www.virginiadiversitynetwork.org/

Vermont Secession blogging again

Vermont Secession, which had been on hiatus, is blogging again. The neo-Confederates are evidently at it again in Vermont, so he has taken up blogging again to expose their nonsense.

The blog is at:

http://vermontsecession.blogspot.com/

Addendum: Actually the Vermont 2nd Republic people would be more accurately described as neo-Confederates, reactionaries of various types who write for Chronicles magazine or are reactionaries written about in Chronicles magazine, or other miscellaneous reactionaries who have written for Southern Partisan.

http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org

"Fighting Neo-Confederacy" on SeeingBlack.com

James Loewen was interviewed on WPFW, Pacific Station, in Washington D.C. for show, "What's At Stake."

The website http://www.seeingblack.com/ has a notice here about the interview with a link to the interview.

James Loewen's schedule of appearances is at this blog post:

http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2010/09/james-loewen-radio-schedule-for.html

Republican Party party photos that nearly leave you speechless

It has been reported that at a board meeting of the National Federation of Republican Women Board of Directors in Charleston, South Carolina there was a social event called "A Southern Experience." The South Carolina State Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell was in a Confederate uniform at the event. However, what has gotten the Internet buzzing is the photos of McConnell with two African Americans with rustic costumes. It has become a story on Gawker also.

You really need to look at the photos here:

http://www.wltx.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=98036&catid=2

http://www2.counton2.com/news/2010/sep/14/photos-southern-experience-gop-womens-meeting-caus-ar-830655/

The Gawker.com story is here:

http://gawker.com/5638087/why-is-this-south-carolina-senate-president-playing-confederate-dress+up-with-slaves

And the other photos here:

http://www.scfrw.org/images/albumSouthern/album/index.html

These are the photos of particular interest.

http://www.scfrw.org/images/albumSouthern/album/slides/McConnellMurrays168.html

http://www.scfrw.org/images/albumSouthern/album/slides/McConnellMurrays170.html

James Loewen on "Culture Shock" a media production of

You can listen to James W. Loewen on "Culture Shock," a media production of American United, being interviewed by Barry Lynn, about the book, "A Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader."

http://www.cultureshocks.com/shows/2010/09/13/james-loewen/

You can read about them at:

http://www.cultureshocks.com/about/

Jack Kershaw, Segregationist, eulogized by League of the South

Jack Kershaw is eulogized by the League of the South (LoS) here:

http://dixienet.org/New%20Site/jackkershawobit.shtml

However, they "forgot" a few details. Jack Kershaw was a major figure in the Tennessee Federation for Constitutional Government which campaigned for segregation in Tennessee attempting to reverse Brown vs. Brown.

The book, "Where No Flag Flies," a biography by Southern Partisan writer Mark Royden Winchell, about Donald Davidson details both Davidson's and Kershaw's activities against integration.

This article will tell you something about Kershaw during the Civil Rights Era, schools being blown up and Jack Kershaw in Clinton, Tennessee working with extremists.

http://www.southernspaces.org/2009/walking-history-beginning-school-desegregation-nashville

Kershaw's "notable" sculpture can be seen here. http://www.tennessee-scv.org/camp28/project7.htm. Look at the 2nd picture down. The statue is made of resin, but a merry-go-round isn't missing a pony.

Oddly enough, the fact that Jack Kershaw was James Earl Ray Jr.s' lawyer isn't brought up, one of Kershaw's most notable roles. Everyone deserves a lawyer, so I don't count that against Kershaw, but it seems the LoS has sanitized Kershaw's biography to be "politically correct," a phrase they are so fond of using. [James Earl Ray Jr. assassinated Martin Luther King.]

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

James Loewen Radio Schedule for the "Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader," 18 radio engagements in two months.

This is the complete Radio Schedule for interviews with James Loewen about our new book, "The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader." These speaking engagements are all over the nation, many in major cities, some are syndicated. Radio stations often now days broadcast online in real time, and often have shows stored online.

http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1338

1. Sunday, Sept 12, 8:30 a.m. ET

1/2 hr. taped interview
WFNY “The WFNY Free Forum”; NYC

2. Sun. Sept 12, 10:30 a.m. ET

30-40 min live interview
“Radio with a View” - WMBR
Cambridge, MA

3. Mon. Sept 13, 11 a.m. ET

20 min. live phone interview
WASN “The Louie Free Show”
Youngstown, OH and the web

4. Mon. Sept 13, 2:00 p.m. ET

40 min taped interview
Americans United for the Separation of Church and State "Culture Shocks"
- syndicated to 6 stations

5. Mon. Sept 13, 3:20 p.m. ET

30 min. taped interview
“Issues & Ideas”
KCBX - FM, (NPR) San Luis Obispo

6. Mon. Sept 13, 4:00 pm ET

25-30 min. taped phone interview
KSFR "Santa Fe Radio Cafe"
Santa Fe, Santa Fe Public Radio,
Airs in the entire State of New Mexico

7. Tues. September 14, 9:10 a.m. ET

20 min. live interview
The 8:00 Buzz – WORT-FM
Madison, WI

8. Tues. September 14, 10:00 a.m. ET

20-30 min. taped phone interview
KVON-AM, “Late Mornings” Napa, CA

9. Tues. Sept 14, Noon ET

12-20 min. taped interview
WTIP-FM, Grand Marais, Minnesota

10. Thurs. Sept 16, 8:00 p.m. ET

30-40 min. live interview
KPFT “The Progressive Forum”
Houston, TX (Pacifica)

11. Mon. Sept 20, 8:40 AM ET

10 min. live interview
WCBQ--Oxford, NC; WHNC--Henderson, NC

12. Mon, Sept. 20, 10:30 a.m. ET

15 min. live interview
KPOJ “The Morning Show w/ Carl Wolfson”
Portland OR

13. Mon., Sept. 20, 4:00 pm ET

50 min. live phone interview
WBAI "Talk Back"
New York, NY

14. Tues. Sept 28, 3:00 p.m. ET

30 min. taped interview
“Open Mind”
Michigan Public Radio (NPR)

15. Tues. Sept 28, 7 p.m. ET

20 min taped phone interview
Beneath the Surface – KPFK, N. Hollywood

16. Wed. Sept 29, 10:30 a.m. ET

10 min. taped phone interview
KAXE (100,000 watt NPR affiliate)
Grand Rapids, MN

17. Friday Oct. 1, 3:00 p.m. ET

45 min live phone interview w/breaks
Civil War Talk Radio
http://www.voiceamerica.com/worldtalkradio/vshow.aspx?sid=865

18. Wed. Oct 20, 11 a.m. ET

20-25 min. taped interview
Voices of Our World
Nationally syndicated to over 100 stations
(programming run by the Maryknoll, progressive religious community)

Uprising Radio Program with James Loewen discussing "The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader" is online

The web page for the interview with James Loewen about the book "The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader" is:

http://uprisingradio.org/home/?p=15595

And you can listen to the interview at this link:

http://www.archive.org/download/DailyDigest-090710/2010_09_07_loewen.mp3

From the web page:

"Ask Americans about why Southern states ceded in 1861 to form the Confederate States of America, and chances are, they will describe it as a battle over states’ rights. That’s what author and historian James Loewen has found in his travels across the country. But in delving into the actual documents of the time, Loewen shows that the cessation of 11 Southern states centered on the institution of slavery. In his new book The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader: The “Great Truth” About the “Lost Cause,” Loewen sets the historical record straight about a time in American history that is often invoked by conservatives today. Nearly 150 years after the Civil War he makes the definitive case that cessation and the Confederacy were about preserving slavery and white supremacy. "

James Loewen on Pacifica Radio

James Loewen will be on Pacifica Radio right now.

Sorry about the very short notice.

http://uprisingradio.org/home/?p=15590

He will be speaking on the "Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader." The show is syndicated across the Pacifica network.

Jim tells me that he is doing two radio shows per day, so we are getting the word out.

Treaty of Paris, getting it right

Neo-Confederates like to quote Article 1 of the Treaty of Paris of 1783 in odd ways.

This is the actual text.

Article I

His Britannic Majesty, acknowledges the said United States, viz. New-Hampshire, Massachusetts-Bay, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina, Georgia, to be free sovereign and independent States; that he treats them as such; and for himself, his heirs and successors, relinquishes all claims to the government, propriety and territorial rights of the same, and every part thereof.

You can read it online as it was printed in the Statues-at-Large here at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lawhome.html and go to the Statues at Large, Vol. 8, page 80. On page 81 is Article 1.

First note that it is "independent States," and that "States" is capitalized. It is a proper noun and is not referring to states in general. "States" is short for United States. If you take the viz. clause out, the sentence is:

His Britannic Majesty acknowledges the said United States to be free, sovereign and independent [United] States; ....

The treaty is saying the United States is an independent [United] States. "States" is short for United States. The viz. is just explaining of which former colonies these States are. It wouldn't do to have the United States be declared independent while his Britannic majesty was still claiming one of the former colonies.

Neo-Confederates sometimes like to have the Article 1 in capital letters so that the meaning of the text is obscured or have "States" with a lower case "s" to obscure its meaning.

Article 1 is merely saying, the United States is independent and making sure that all the former colonies are included.

Finally, when does the King of Britain define what American government would be, or a peace treaty with a formerly hostile power define what American government is? What the King of Britain thinks American government is or is not is irrelevant. That is what independence was all about. The first constitution of the United States was The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union.

It the intention was that each state was an independent sovereign state individually, the word "each" would be used and "States" not capitalized.

The rest of the treaty implies that it is one sovereign nation involved. For example, the boundary described in the treaty is for the United States as a whole, and the boundaries of the individual states are not described.

The mind of neo-Confederacy is constantly straining to grasp straws. When they are contradicted they resort to name calling.

James Loewen will speak at book store Busboys and Poets Sept. 20th

James Loewen will speak on the book "The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader" at Busboys and Poets, Sept. 20th, at 6:30 pm, at their 14th and V location in Washington, D.C.

The web page for the bookstore is at:

http://www.busboysandpoets.com/

I plan to blog a notice for each speaking engagement by James Loewen concerning the book.

"Jackson Free Press" editor has column on my website about the Citizens Councils

The web page http://www.citizenscouncils.com/ has gotten coverage in the Jackson Free Press.

The editor's column on the web site is here:

http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/index.php/site/comments/editors_note_wait_ive_heard_this_before_081810/

James Loewen will speak at Sankofa Video, Books and Cafe', Sept. 4th

Sept. 4, at 2 P.M. Sociologist James W. Loewen discusses the new anthology "The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader: The 'Great Truth' about the 'Lost Cause' " (edited with Edward H. Sebesta) at Sankofa Video, Books & Café, 2714 Georgia Ave. NW, 202-234-4755.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/27/AR2010082705249.html?wprss=rss_print/bookworld

"Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader" banner ad at www.civilwarinteractive.com

The ad for the "Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader" is a banner ad online at:

http://www.civilwarinteractive.com/

It is the daily newspaper of the Civil War since 1996.

They have 1.5 million hits per month. (Ref. http://www.civilwarinteractive.com/advertising3.htm)