Paper with pictures about the Triumphalist White Supremacy of Fair Park Completed. / On to bringing down the SCV

PAPER ON FAIR PARK WITH ABOUT 100 PICTURES

There are formally listed 84 Figures, but some of those figures are sets of pictures. There is a total 102 pages.

http://templeofdemocracy.com/history-paper-the-triumphalist-white-supremacy-of-fair-park.html

It is a big pdf so it might take some time. It is over 50 megabytes.

I am now going to ask scholars and cultural leaders to co-sign our letter. We have a total of 40 signatures so far.

http://templeofdemocracy.com/fair-park-letter.html

The following blog will be tracking the Dallas white landscape closely, as opposed to this more general blog which deals with neo-Confederacy.

https://dallaslandscape.blogspot.com/

On to bringing down the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Getting a Powerpoint Made, a video made, and then this 102 page paper, has taken time. I have had to concentrate on it intensly since it is a current issue with events underway. However, with this done, it is now going to be more time to pursue other topics, which specifically be about leting the general public know about the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

I have set up my video studio and gone through and prepared materials and hope to do the first video soon.

I expect to bring down the Sons of Confederate Veterans by informing the public what their agenda is. I want to make it very clear I don't support violent actions.

AntiNeoConfederate Channel Created.

his is a link to a video on the channel. You can go there and subscribe to the channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wll-kvEcOAY

This is the link to the channel itself.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_TBuNDUeTcx0e2SlYfCYqw

Next video will be on the neo-Confederates pro-slavery views. Also, the Kennedy Twins' belief that slave holders should have been paid for their slaves.

This is the video embedded.

Will be presenting at the South Dallas Cultural Center about the white supremacy inherent in Fair Park

April 28th, 2-4 pm, Sat. at the South Dallas Cultural Center I will be giving two presentations on Fair Pair and I will be on one of the panels.

We expect to have a good crowd attend. What is happening is that more and more people are realizing that Ed Sebesta does fairly good research and he is likely to have the story on some item of the Dallas landscape and Ed Sebesta will have documentation that it is about white supremacy.

Also, I expect that with this presentation, and the others planned after it, a lot of people will know about my research into the neo-Confederates.

I am also developing methods which I think will serve as a model to other cities to get rid of their Confederate built landscapes.

Click on it to see the whole thing.

Mentioned in article in "Dallas Weekly," working on Dallas.

I am given a mention in this article in the Dallas Weekly.

http://www.dallasweekly.com/opinion/article_b67080e4-1033-11e8-b70b-afc8ad98c639.html

I have just finished rough drafts of two papers. One is on Fair Park, the other on the Confederate memorial at Pioneer park.

I had heard that the Confederate memorial at Pioneer Park was coming up for consideration in late February, but I don't think that is going to happen.

However, I decided to write up a draft to be prepared if and when the Confederate memorial at Pioneer Park comes up. The paper is 24,097 words long. There is a real racist history involved.

The Fair Park paper is more modest at 5,744 words.

In both cases there is additional material, but I wanted to have fairly comprehensive papers readily available if either Fair Park or the Confederate monument issue comes up.

My plan is to research and write up Dallas and there is a fair amount to be written up.

I am going to get back working on the streets and get the 2nd version of the map done.

I don't think the issue of Confederate named schools is going to come up until I make it an issue so I am holding off researching the schools.

Letter about the history of neo-Confederacy sent to Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings

Since the Dallas Task Force on Confederate monuments failed to get any information on the history of Dallas neo-Confederacy, the public hasn't been educated fully as to why these monuments need to go down. So the number of Confederate named streets was a very short list and none or maybe just one or two will be changed. The Confederate monument in Pioneer Park might end up staying. It doesn't look like anything will be done for Fair Park. The Commission on Cultural Affairs didn't vote on the Task Force's recommendations.

So I wrote this certified letter to Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings with copies sent to all 14 city council members. 

Some of the supporting documentation I will put after the letter and some will be inserted into the letter. Further I may have explanatory notes which will be in square brackets [ ].

CLICK ON IMAGES SO YOU CAN SEE THE ENTIRE IMAGE.

Again, I had a brain fade and the plantation house in Oak Lawn park is Arlington Hall. Stratford Hall is the ancestral mansion of the Lee family. 

October 15, 2017

                                                                                    Edward H. Sebesta

                                                                                    

                                                                                    edwardsebesta@gmail.com

Mayor Mike Rawlings

City of Dallas

Mayor and City Council City of Dallas

1500 Marilla St.

Dallas, TX 75201

Dear Hon. Rawlings:

The Task Force on Confederate monuments did not research or investigate or report on the history of neo-Confederacy in Dallas and Texas.

This has had the unfortunate result in that the public hasn’t been educated and doesn’t know the motivations of the people who erected these statues and what was the ideology behind them. There were presentations about the fact that Dallas was a white supremacist society during the period in which they were put up, but the historical record of the beliefs of these organizations and supporters of the monuments has not been examined.

This results in some not really taking seriously the reason to remove these Confederate monuments. The need to eliminate Confederate street names is not taken that seriously and rationalizations are given to only change some. As of 10/15/2017 it is unclear what will be done with Fair Park. The one-third replica Lee plantation house, Stratford, isn’t being discussed, the remaining memorials that seek to honor Confederates aren’t addressed.

So I think it would be useful that you and city council get a sampler, a small sampler of what neo-Confederacy stood for in Dallas.

1.       The United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1934 and 1935 campaigned against a play Jute that was planned to be performed by the Oak Cliff Little Theater. The UDC opposed it since it was planned to use an interracial cast to perform it. The performance of the play was prevented and the Oak Cliff Little Theater closed down. The Texas Division UDC President in the UDC convention minutes reported it as a triumph in the defense of the South.  The Dallas Morning News reported on this multiple times: “Interracial Body Meets Opposition of Confederates,” Dec. 4, 1934, page2; “Quince to Revive ‘Jute’ on June 4 at Cliff Theater, April 27, 1935, page 10; “Title Role of ‘Jute’ Still Remains Uncast,” May 13, 1935, page 6; “Cast for ‘Jute’ Already Complete,” May 17, 1935, Page 14; “Confederate Daughters Oppose Playing Whites and Negroes in Drama,” May 18, 1935, page 6; “Another Confederacy Chapter Opposes Two Races in Theatricals,” May 23, 1935, page 6; “Guarantee No ‘Social Upheaval,’ Quince Asks Protests to Cease on Mixed Cast for Play ‘Jute,’” May 24, 1935, page 2; “Quince Drops ‘Jute’ In Face of Protests,” May 27, 1935, page 7; “Oak Cliff Merges Membership with Dallas Little Theater’s,” May 28, 1935, page 14.

2.      Walter White of the NAACP came to speak at a YWCA against lynching in 1937. [Correction, 1938] The campaign against his speaking engagement was so ferocious that it was moved to a different Y for safety, a police guard had to be assigned, and White had to fly in at 3 pm and fly out at 6 pm for his own safety. The campaign was led by Walter E. Hurt, Commander-in-Chief of the Texas Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

3.      An extract for John H. Reagan, from the Dallas Morning News, April 28, 1897, page 1 in which Reagan explains that the restoration of white supremacy after the Civil War was more meritorious than any of the Civil War battles that the Confederates fought.

4.      A report on a speech made by the Historian General of the Texas Division of the United Confederate Veterans at UCV meeting in Fort Worth asking that all African Americans be sent back to Africa and giving forth on his biblical theories of racial inequality. It is from the Confederate Veteran, Vol. 24, No. 12 pp. 529, Dec. 1916.

5.      Selections from the John B. Hood Journal of the John B. Hood SCV camp in Dallas in 1965. The raw rancid racism really shows what Confederate “heritage” is all about.

I could supply a lot more. I want you and the city council to understand the motivations behind these monuments and other Confederate items of the built environment of Dallas and not be inclined to be lax in addressing the issue involved instead of strenuously de-Confederating Dallas.

                                                                                    Sincerely Yours,

                                                                                    Edward H. Sebesta

This is from the Texas Division UDC annual convention minutes. I extracted into a page the Texas Division President's comments from the year book. It succinctly summarizes the attitude of the UDC.

CLICK ON IMAGES TO SEE ENTIRE IMAGE.

The article was mailed. You can get this article from the Dallas Public Library. It is from the Dallas Morning News, April 29, 1938, pages 1, 12. I sent the entire article with the bibliographic note. The headline was, Protest Made Agasint Negro Speech Plans: Earl E. Hurt Says White People Should Guard Racial Purity."

Walter White, historically famous leader of the NAACP was scheduled to speak in Dallas before the Dallas Interracial Commission against lynching. A campaign was led against his speaking. This really shows what Confederate "heritage" in Dallas was about. 

The intensity of the protest was such that the speaker had to be guarded by police and the venue moved. This is from the article, "Police Guard Appearance of Negro Speaker: Antilynch Work To Save Black Bodies, White Men's Souls," Dallas Morning News, April 30, 1938. 

Walter White had to be flown in at 3pm and flown out at 6pm by airplane for his safety. 

This is the raw racism of the Sons of Confederate Veterans at that time. Earl Hurt said that he speaks for the organization and other organizations. .

This is from John H. Reagan, Confederate veteran and former member of the Confederate cabinet at the dedication of the Confederate monument which later was moved to Pioneer Park.

Reagan finds restoration of white supremacy glorious – Ed Sebesta 10/10/2017

In this section of a speech given by John H. Reagan, former member of Jefferson Davis’s cabinet, given at the dedication of the Confederate monument in Dallas in 1897, we see that Reagan regards as more glorious than the battles of the Civil War the restoration of white supremacy after the Civil War. Note his racism in reference to “a servile race” which makes “reconstruction worse and more humiliating than war.”

From “Men Who Wore Gray,” Dallas Morning News, April 29, 1897, page 1, Newsbank. (The image of the original text is on the following page.)

“… The strife of the war is over, peace has been restored. It is true that in this restoration we had to pass through a period of reconstruction worse and more humiliating than war ---“

(Here the speaker was interrupted by the arrival of Mrs. Hayes and family, who were enthusiastically received.)

“But we have the fruits of peace, and it is one of the grandest things connected with the memory of that struggle and of what followed. Our country’s resources were exhausted, our property sacrificed, the bravest and best of our men slain upon the battle fields, denied the privileges of self-government, subjected to military power, the attempt made to subject us to the control of a servile race. With all of this, the highest compliment that could be paid our people seems to me, better than all the victories of battle, was that under such circumstances we were able to preserve the organization of society, to re-establish organized government, to restore the industries of the country and to establish constitutional laws which protect and vindicate the rights of a free people.” (Applause.) [Bold face added.]

The restoration of white supremacy, the overthrow of Reconstruction, the maraudings and terror of the Ku Klux Klan, Red Shirts, White League and the Knights of the White Camillia and just general violent white terrorism is according to John H. Reagan is “the highest compliment” that is “better than all the victories of battle” in the Civil War.

It was generally understood in the early 20^th century by Confederate and neo-Confederate groups, such as the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Sons of Confederate Veterans, that the Ku Klux Klan of the Reconstruction period, as well as other white terrorist groups was the effort of the ex-Confederate soldier.

The Confederate Monument at Pioneer Park is a monument to white supremacy. It needs to go. 

This is the image of the extract referenced above.

This is a speech asking that all African Americans be sent back to Africa. Also, it says that Indians are the result of hybridization with animals. It is from the Confederate Veteran, Vol. 24, No. 12, pp. 569. The lecture is by the Historian General of the Texas Division of the United Confederate Veterans. 

Selections from the John B. Hood Journal of 1965 of the John B. Hood Sons of Confederate Veterans camp.

This is the review of the material. The photos follow.

 JOHN B. HOOD CAMP SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS (SCV) JOHN B. HOOD JOURNAL

Compiled by Edward H. Sebesta 10/18/2017

The John B. Hood Journal was the publication of the John B. Hood Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) and the Dallas Public Library (DPL) has a bound copy of four issues from 1965. They show the blistering racism of the SCV and which is representative of the mentality of neo-Confederates then and now.  This is what so called Confederate “heritage” is really about.

Notes: The pages in the bound volume are unpaginated. The page numbers in this document do not correspond to any pages in the document. They are just for internal reference in this document only.

NOTABLE ITEMS:

This directory is to point out some of the more notable pages using the page numbers of this document. Additionally red arrows are added to point out these notable items. This is a short selection of some of the anti-civil rights items in the bound volume.

1.       Page 5: “White only” stickers offered for sale by the Journal. “Think of the possibilities. On your personal bathrooms, etc., anywhere they are still legal.”  Enlarged view on page 26.

2.      Page 9: Praise and support for right wing radio personality Richard Cotton attacks on the civil rights movement. Page 34 Enlarged view.

3.      Page 11:

3.1.   White supremacist quote of Thomas Dixon from “The Leopard Spots,” one of his novels.

3.2.  Quote of Abraham Lincoln supporting white supremacy.

3.3.  Two condemnations of the Supreme Court decision, one Florida Legislature, one Georgia Legislature.

4.      Page 12: “The Negro 23^rd Psalm.” What is interesting is that neo-Confederates in the 1950s and 60s will have these long discussions of the Constitution and then next to it these rabid rants which give away the whole game. They are so racist that this doesn’t even occur to them.  Page 45. Enlarged.

5.      Page 14: Various racist statements.

5.1.   Robert Toombs explains that Robert E. Lee demonstrates white superiority.

5.2.  Condemnation of “Sammy Davis” who is called “Negro agitator.”

5.3.  Short item asserting that God supports segregation.

6.      Page 15:  Essay explaining that there is no place in the SCV for someone who supports civil rights.  Specific complaint about President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s support for the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act.

7.      Page 16: Various racist statements.

Letter to Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings about Fair Park

I continue to do research into Fair Park.  In this blog posting is the letter I sent him and also the supplementary materials. This was one of six certified letters I sent to Mayor Rawlings. I sent a copy of the letter along with supporting materials to all 14 city council members with proof of mailing.

In the following there is the certified mail postcard, the letter, and then supplemental materials that were sent with the letter.

Click on images to see the entire image.

Mayor Mike Rawlings

Mayor and City Council City of Dallas

1500 Marilla St.

Dallas, TX 75201

Dear Hon. Rawlings:

The Task Force on Confederate monuments had this resolution regarding Fair Park.

2. Recognizing that Fair Park is a local, state, and national landmark, the Task Force recommends that the historic art and architecture of Fair Park which contains symbols of, or references to, the Confederate States of America or persons associated therewith, remain in place as a piece of the history of Texas as presented at Fair Park. However the Task Force recommends that appropriate signage, markers, digital tour guides, public art, educational programming, and/or exhibitions be added as necessary to provide the full context of the Civil War, Reconstruction, “Lost Cause” mythology, the “Jim Crow” era, and the creation of Fair Park for the 1936 Texas Centennial. Historical context should include reference to the many contributions of Mexicans, Tejanos and indigenous peoples made during the colonization of Texas, the Texas Revolution, and during and after the Mexican War leading to the 20^th Century, to also include the participation or exclusion of various communities in those historic events.

First, I would like to point out is that the Cultural Affairs Committee, in their meeting Oct. 12, 2017 were informed of this recommendation, but didn’t vote on it. Is the public to assume that this recommendation of the Task Force on Confederate Monuments has been dropped?

I further would like to review this recommendation. I think it misses the point of Fair Park and the Hall of State which is the representation of a triumphal account of Texas history resulting in the white supremacist state of Texas in 1936. Though not fascistic in its art forms, it is veritably a “Triumph of the Texas Will,” in the art and architecture.  The entire built environment is a message of white supremacy. Leni Riefenstahl would have recognized what Fair Park was about.

The six flags of Texas theme is fundamentally an expression of white supremacy. History in Texas doesn’t start until there are white people present.

In reviewing the murals along the Esplanade in the buildings you see white people as masters of science, technology, crafts, trades, and industry. Nowhere are non-white people present. White people do everything under the patronage of white goddesses in front of the buildings.  A flyer is enclosed with illustrations of this point.

In the Hall of State white people found and build states and societies, African Americans tote bales of hay. Possibly an African American is shown helping to saw down a tree.

The story of Texas to 1936 is the dispossession of Native Americans of the land, the establishment of a society  built by the exploitation of African slaves, the separation from a multi-racial abolitionist Mexico to establish a white supremacist slave Republic with Hispanics and of course slaves making non-white underclasses, then a panicked attempted secession from a United States that was headed towards abolition, then a violent terroristic overthrow of efforts to establish a multi-racial democracy during Reconstruction and then the establishment of a white supremacist Jim Crow Texas.

The omission of Reconstruction from the murals at the Hall of State at Fair Park is the first obvious indicator to look at that these beautiful murals and statues as propaganda and not just pretty things.

The art objects and murals serve to make the, previously mentioned history of Texas, the continuing struggle of a white supremacist society and its triumph in the Jim Crow era in the establishment of a white supremacist state a glorious and beautiful accomplishment of white people. The crushing of non-white humanity is missing. The art defines racial roles in society as given in the opposite page of this flyer.

The literature of the Centennial repeatedly refers to the establishment of an empire, situating the triumph of Texas as the formation of an empire in a world imperial system of white supremacy of European and American empires. The souvenir program for the Cavalcade of Texas performed at the Centennial also portrays Texas history as a triumph in establishing what it calls an “empire.”
 

Cullen F. Thomas, president of the Texas Centennial Commission, the booklet “Commemorating A Hundred Years of Texas History,” makes the racial meaning of “empire” clear when he states about the Centennial, “It will testify that Texans are not unworthy of the incomparable heritage left to them by martyrs and patriots, dying and ready to die, that Texas might become an Anglo-Saxon commonwealth,” establishing that Texas is not just a white triumph, but a triumph of a certain type of white people.  The Dallas Morning News, “750,000 Expected to Attend Centennial during Week,” June I, 1936, pages 1,9, reported that D.W. Griffith, director of the pro-Klan movie, “Birth of a Nation,” both reviewed and improved the Cavalcade to let the public know that Griffith endorsed it.

The Task Force on Confederate monuments recommendation doesn’t see that the entire built environment of Fair Park is in the service of white supremacy, but instead the Task Force sees a something that just needs some corrections and modifications which will likely be implemented as token gestures.  Given the current historical context provided at Fair Park by the Dallas Historical Society I would say they are unqualified to do any contextualization.

I enclose a flyer with some of the Confederate art work to be found at Fair Park. The statue of the Confederacy is particularly insidious because it represents the Confederacy, an attempt to establish a state to preserve slavery and white supremacy, as a thing of heavenly beauty, a white goddess.

The Texas medallion at the hall of state again has all the stages of Texas represented by white women on clouds even though Texas has been a place of multiple nationalities and races. The Confederacy is represented as beautiful, heavenly and bountiful. The medallion as a whole represents this succession establishing white supremacy as the essential core identity of Texas.

The State Fairs at Fair Park have had a Confederate Day each year from sometime in the 1880’s until sometime in the 1990s. On these days neo-Confederate groups have had presentations advancing their ideology.

The fact that Fair Park is given local, state and national landmark status is no excuse to uncritically accept a white supremacist built environment. They might merit these landmark status, but they should merit this as an example of a 1930s white supremacist built environment showing another example in that era of fascism a different way of supporting white supremacy.

The city of Dallas should recognize Fair Park for what it is and act accordingly.

                                                                                    Sincerely Yours,

                                                                                    Edward H. Sebesta

CC:

Office	Name	Address	Address
Mayor Pro Tem	Dwaine Caraway	Mayor and City Council	Dallas City Hall
Deputy Mayor Pro Tem	Adam Medrano	Mayor and City Council	Dallas City Hall
District 1 Council Member	Scott Griggs	Mayor and City Council	Dallas City Hall
District 3 Council Member	Casey Thomas II	Mayor and City Council	Dallas City Hall
District 5 Council Member	Rickey D. Callahan	Mayor and City Council	Dallas City Hall
District 6 Council Member	Omar Narvaez	Mayor and City Council	Dallas City Hall
District 7 Council Member	Kevin Felder	Mayor and City Council	Dallas City Hall
District 8 Council Member	Tennell Atkins	Mayor and City Council	Dallas City Hall
District 9 Council Member	Mark Clayton	Mayor and City Council	Dallas City Hall
District 10 Council Member	B. Adam McGough	Mayor and City Council	Dallas City Hall
District 11 Council Member	Lee Kleinman	Mayor and City Council	Dallas City Hall
District 12 Council Member	Sandy Greyson	Mayor and City Council	Dallas City Hall
District 13 Council Member	Jennifer Staubach Gates	Mayor and City Council	Dallas City Hall
District 14 Council Member	Philip T. Kingston	Mayor and City Council	Dallas City Hall

There were two supplemental documents added in with the letter.

FIRST SUPPLEMENTAL DOCUMENT. 

I had to break up the WORD document into image files.  This is the two-sided flyer I handed out.

These two images were page 1 of the flyer.

Page 2 of the flyer.

I am going to have the text first and then an image of the final part.

Summary Review of Fair Park as in White Park

The story of Texas to 1936 is the dispossession of Native Americans of the land, the establishment of a society  built the exploitation of African slaves, the separation from a multi-racial abolitionist Mexico to establish a white supremacist slave Republic with Hispanics and of course slaves making non-white underclasses, then a panicked attempted secession from a United States that was headed towards abolition, then a violent terroristic overthrow of efforts to establish a multi-racial democracy during Reconstruction and then the establishment of a white supremacist Jim Crow Texas.

The omission of Reconstruction from the murals at the Hall of State at Fair Park is the first obvious indicator to look at that these beautiful murals and statues as propaganda and not just pretty.

The art objects and murals serve to make the, previously mentioned history of Texas, the continuing struggle of a white supremacist society and its triumph in the Jim Crow era in the establishment of a white supremacist state a glorious and beautiful accomplishment of white people. The crushing of non-white humanity is missing. The art defines racial roles in society as given in the opposite page of this flyer.

The Cavalcade of Texas which was performed every evening during the Centennial in 1936 also portrayed Texas history as a triumph in the establishment of what one Texas Centennial Commission booklet describe as an “Anglo-Saxon empire,” not only defining a racial triumph but excluding whites who were not Anglo-Saxon and positioning Texas as part of the world imperial system of white supremacy.

It should not be surprising that D.W. Griffith, who directed the notorious pro-Klan movie, Birth of a Nation, was involved in its production.

Fair Parks art powerfully endorsed and encouraged neo-Confederates meeting there in the past and is a continuing text to teach a white nationalist history in the present.

Fair Park is a project of a white supremacist state in the interwar era, it isn’t fascist, but a comparison of similar tactics with fascist and totalitarian art and architecture is warranted. To consider Fair Park as just an object of the decorative arts is banal white nationalism and collusion with its agenda.  To only consider the Confederate art work is to be oblivious.

SECOND SUPPLEMENTAL DOCUMENT

Just because the same images are shown here doesn't mean that the accompanying text is the same. Additional issues are discussed.

Page 1

Page 2

This page is going to be a text and an image. Click on the image to see the figures on the right. I am not finished analyzing the image. I think these three women are supposed to represent the Fates from Greek mythology and one of the goddesses is the Confederacy which is conflated as the South. The following is the text for the image on page 2 of this supplement.

This art work touches upon the Confederacy in two ways. In the image below on the left there is the Confederate army with the Confederate battle flag are heroically portrayed.

The three female figures to the right however have multiple neo-Confederate themes. 1) The Confederacy and the South are represented as identical even though half as many men from the South were in the American army as in the Confederate army.  2) This is a “war between the states” idea since the middle figure is Columbia, a figure representing the United States, as a separate figure from the North and South figures which represent warring factions instead of the Civil War being a Confederacy attempting to secede from the American nation. 3) Slavery, the cause of the Civil War, is nowhere to be seen in this representation of the Civil War.

Page 3

Notice the clouds on which the figures rest. The Confederacy is a being in heaven and hence heavenly.

Page 4 

This is an image of omissions and making the Confederacy as integral to Texas identity.

I am still analyzing Fair Park and doing research. I am still purchasing artifacts. What is really interesting is how the art establishment of Dallas refuses to see what Fair Park is and what the art work is about. Instead they just sort of babble pretty pretty. That is the perniciousness of Fair Park making white supremacy as beautiful.