Ta-Hehisi Coates on Robert E. Lee

Very informative blog at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/08/arlington-bobby-lee-and-the-peculiar-institution/61428/

Our new book, "The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader" has the Robert E. Lee's letter which Coates discusses.

Interesting column in the "Washington Post" about the Republican party's effort to repeal the 14th Amendment

The article is here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/10/AR2010081004586.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Incidentally, Lindsay Graham interviewed in Southern Partisan.

Pseudo-scientific racism was promoted by the Confederacy to justify itself.

During the Civil War the Confederate government published The Index in London to garner support for itself, proposing that the Confederacy was defending a system of white supremacy supported by pseudo-scientific racism.

One of these pseudo-scientific racist articles, is in the book, "The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader," and another is online at:

http://www.confederatepastpresent.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=87:qthe-natural-history-of-manq-heny-hotze-july-23-1863&catid=39:civil-war-

It is not surprising that the Confederacy opted to promote pseudo-scientific racism, since Jefferson Davis himself wrote a letter to endorse a pamphlet by white supremacist Van Evrie which advanced various pseudo-scientific crackpot ideas which argued that sub-Saharan Africans were a separate species intermediate between white people and orangutans. Davis's letter of endorsement and an extract of the pamphlet are also in the book "The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader."

"United Daughters of the Confederacy Magazine" Against the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s

I am going to be putting at http://www.confederatepastpresent.org/ more articles from the UDC Magazine in the 1950s in opposition to civil rights.

I will update this blog entry as I put more articles online.

This is one article. It starts out with a biographical sketch of Jefferson Davis and Constitutional reasoning but quickly leads to the author's obsession with interracial relations and a "mongrelized" people. The UDC ran hysterical articles against civil rights in the 1950s.

http://www.confederatepastpresent.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=86:jefferson-davis-the-man-america-needs-today&catid=36:the-civil-rights-era

Update: I have now have seven UDC articles attacking civil rights in the 50s. You can read them here.

http://www.confederatepastpresent.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=36&Itemid=54

Tennessee UDC praises the KKK and Anglo-Saxonism

I am finally getting around to populating the website http://www.confederatepastpresent.org/ with documents about the Confederates and Neo-Confederates.

http://www.confederatepastpresent.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=85:tennessee-division-united-daughters-of-the-confederacy-praise-the-ku-klux-klan-and-anglo-saxon-purity&catid=37:the-nadir-of-race-relations

The web site will mostly be material that couldn't fit into the book. We only needed one example of the UDC praising the KKK, and there was so much material of the UDC praising the KKK.

Some of the material in the book will be on the website, but not much. Mostly it will be just a few examples of what is in the book. The web site is a supplement of what is in the book.

Update: 7/24/10:

There has been this response from the League of the South to this new entry.

http://lsrebellion.blogspot.com/2010/07/another-sebesta-opus.html

It is too bad http://www.confederatepastpresent.org/ doesn't have permission to have the League of the South articles online.

Excellent Paper on William Stewart Simkins

The paper is online and you can download a .pdf of it at this blog.

http://www.houseofrussell.com/Site/Simkins_Blog/Simkins_Blog.html

Professor Russell is to be commended for this paper.

Ta-Nehisi Coates, Senior Editor for "The Atlantic" blogs on "The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader"

Ta-Nehisi Coates, Senior Editor of The Atlantic had this very interesting blog regarding our book, The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/07/primary-sources/59102/

For those of you interested in the book the web page for the book at the University Press of Mississippi is:

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

Updated: James Loewen will be key note speaker for “Secessions" Conference in Louisville at Filson Institute

I just got word from James Loewen of the following:

"Also, I have an additional topic I'll be speaking on frequently in the future: Confederate secession and how we (mis)remember it and the Civil War in general. I'll keynote the "Secessions Conference" in Louisville, held just before the 150th anniversary of secession itself, and on August 1, my new book (with Ed Sebesta) debuts: The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader."

“The ‘Secessions Conference’ In Louisville will be 10/21-21, details forthcoming. The Filson Historical Society website announcement of the forthcoming conference is at: http://www.filsonhistorical.org/programs-and-publications/the-filson-institute.aspx

Of course, James Loewen is always happy to autograph a copy of The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader at any conference or event he is attending.

The publishers page for the book is at http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1338.

I think this is a great way to start the Sesquincentennial.

University of Mississippi publishes "The Confederate & Neo-Confederate Reader" edited by James Loewen and Edward H. Sebesta, Updated

I am pleased to say that the University Press of Mississippi has published "The Confederate & Neo-Confederate Reader: The 'Great Truth' About the 'Lost Cause' edited by James Loewen and Edward H. Sebesta.

The University Press of Mississippi link is: http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1338

It is at Amazon.com at this link:

http://www.amazon.com/Confederate-Neo-Confederate-Reader-Great-Truth/dp/1604732180/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0

and at Barnes & Nobles at this link:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Confederate-and-Neo-Confederate-Reader/James-W-Loewen/e/9781604732184/?itm=2&USRI=sebesta+loewen


There is a website for the book http://www.confederatepastpresent.org/ in which we have additional material not found in the book. We didn't want the book to be 600 pages, and so the extra material is online at this website. AT THIS time there is only one item at the website, but during the summer I will be adding material in time for the forthcoming school year.

We would also like to thank some of the people who helped us. The following our thanks quoted from the book itself.

"The editors would like to thank the following readers for comments and suggestions that were of extraordinary value: John Coski, John Dittmer, James O. Horton, Dwight Pitcaithley, Gregory Urwin, David Williams, and an anonymous reviewer."

John Coski is at the Museum of the Confederacy but was a great help on sources for the book.

The target audience, besides historians and persons who like reading about history, is school teachers, college history classes, and other educational and institutional venues.

2010 Letter to Obama concerning the Arlington Confederate memorial on History News Network web site

The 2010 Letter to Obama is online at the History News Network website in the "Historians and History" section at this link:

http://www.hnn.us/articles/126704.html

Additionally, they have the 2009 Letter to Obama online also in the "HNN Hot Topics: Memorial Day" page as the 2nd item in the list.

http://hnn.us/articles/12140.html

"Southern Partisan" -- Alive or Dead, Part 2

Well, I think Southern Partisan is truly dead. The last issue came out in April 2009. The issue prior to that came out about a year earlier in Spring 2008. So in the last two years, one issue has been published.

The publisher has passed away as reported at the Southern Partisan web site: http://www.southernpartisan.net/2010/05/05/southern-partisan-publisher-passes-away-at-72/. He passed away March 1, 2010, and the funeral was March 7, 2010, but the web site didn't announce it until May 5, 2010.

So unless someone else decided to fund the Southern Partisan, I think it is dead. Good riddance!

I have blogged on whether Southern Partisan was defunct earlier.

http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2009/03/maybe-southern-partisan-is-dead.html

Asa Gordon on the Electoral System and disenfranchisement of African Americans

Asa Gordon has a website regarding his campaign to reform the electoral college.

www.electors.us

I have never liked the winner take all system in the Electoral College. The state may have voted 51% for candidate A and 49% for candidate B, but candidate A takes all the Electoral votes.

The presidential candidates neither campaign in states where they feel fairly confident that they will get the majority nor in states where they think they don't have any chance.

I do like the Electoral college though. If some state is lack about fraudulent voting, it can only impact their Electoral votes, whereas, if it was decided on a national vote count, the fraudulent voting of one state would not be contained.

[White] Citizens' Council newspaper available online

The entire run of the [White] Citizens Council newspaper is available online at:

www.citizenscouncils.com

I recommend thumbnail mode and then select the page you wish to view.

The members of the Citizens' Councils newspaper makes it quite clear that Confederate symbols were commonly understood as symbols of white supremacy and this view was held by members in mainstream society in the South and elsewhere.

The assertion by Shelby Foote and others that the KKK ran away with the meaning of Confederate symbols during the Civil Rights Era is shown to be nonsense.

Obama vs. McDonnell

There seems to be a bit of controversy over McDonnell's declaration of April history month, with the Democrats in an uproar.

You can read McDonnell's declaration and the controversy at this URL.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2010/04/post_666.html

This is my letter to Obama about the Arlington Confederate monument.

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/2009ObamaLetter.pdf

What is the difference I would like to know? Why are the people in the article linked to by the following URL upset with McDonnell and not Obama?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/06/AR2010040604416.html

Leon F. Litwack and David W. Blight co-sign letter to President Obama

Leon F. Litwack co-signed the letter to President Obama and sent me a letter thanking me for undertaking the effort to write Obama.

His historical writing is of landmark importance in the history of America. If you haven't read his books, I recommend you do. Been in the Storm So Long and Trouble in Mind are two of his books that I strongly recommend.

David W. Blight is also an author of great importance. If you haven't read his books, I recommend that you do. Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory and Frederick Douglass' Civil War: Keeping Faith in Jubilee are two books I strongly recommend.

I will comment more at http://arlingtonconfederatemonument.blogspot.com/.

Neo-Confederacy in Texas Education

First a Texas governor that talks about secession and now this with the Texas State Board of Education.

From a March 10, 2010 article in the New York Times:

There have also been efforts among conservatives on the board to tweak the history of the civil rights movement. One amendment states that the movement created “unrealistic expectations of equal outcomes” among minorities. Another proposed change removes any reference to race, sex or religion in talking about how different groups have contributed to the national identity.

And;

References to Ralph Nader and Ross Perot are proposed to be removed, while Stonewall Jackson, the Confederate general, is to be listed as a role model for effective leadership, and the ideas in Jefferson Davis’s inaugural address are to be laid side by side with Abraham Lincoln’s speeches.

The following is the link to the article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/us/politics/11texas.html?src=me

Neo-Confederacy continues to advance and Obama continues to do nothing.

Neo-Confederate Mainstreaming, full speed ahead in the conservative movement

Here is the agenda for CPAC on Thursday.

http://66.147.244.188/~conserz8/cpac/

There is an article on CPAC and the neo-Confederate extremists by Max Blumenthal.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/feeling-the-hate-at-cpac_b_474077.html

At CPAC there was Thomas DiLorenzo on Lincoln. Thomas Woods, leading neo-Confederate, had a session on nullification. Andrew Napolitano was their also.

Ron Paul, of the Libertarian wing of the neo-Confederate moment won the straw poll, though it is questioned what this straw poll represents. However, the fact that Ron Paul could win any poll at a political event says something about the event.

The 2010 Letter to President Obama is online now.

The contents of the letter can be reached through the Arlington Confederate Monument blog at this URL.

http://arlingtonconfederatemonument.blogspot.com/

Look for it at the side bar on the blog as well as a blog entry.

New post at the Arlington Confederate Monument blog

http://arlingtonconfederatemonument.blogspot.com/

It is about an excellent book that I am about finished reading.

Was Lincoln a Communist? SCV Neo-Confederates think so.

The Southern Mercury was published by FPAC, "the educational foundation of the Sons of Confederate Veterans." They stopped publishing since they ran out of funds to do so. The Southern Mercury published many extremist articles. The material they published in this periodical was material they thought would educate their members.

One of the cover articles for the March/April 2008 issue of the Southern Mercury is "Republican Party: Red From the Start," by Alan Stang, ( http://www.alanstang.com/), and the article asserts that the Republican party was a communist conspiracy from the beginning. [Southern Mercury, Vol. 6 No. 2, March/April 2008, pages 26-29.]

The article is a review of "Red Republicans: Marxism in the Civil War and Lincoln's Marxists," by Al Benson and Walter D. Kennedy, leading neo-Confederate. (http://olesouthbooks.com/kennedy_brothers/red_republicans.php) or (http://www.newswithviews.com/Stang/alan30.htm). It is a book that asserts that there was some type of communist conspiracy. As Stang explains [Page 27]:

"Even a brief perusal through Red Republicans will verify the idea that the Republican party has been Communist since its inception."

Another excerpts from page 27:

"... Lee and Jackson did not fully comprehend what they were fighting. Had this really been a 'Civil' War, rather than a secession, they would and could easily have seized Washington after Manassas and hanged our first Communist President and the other war criminals."

We learn on page 28 that "The GOP Convention of 1860 took place in Chicago, a flaming center of German Communism."

On page 29 Stang explains that:

"So again, the Republican Party did not 'go wrong.' It was rotten from the start. It has never been anything else but red. The the characterization of Republican states as 'red states' is quite appropriate"

Somehow this leads to Alan Stang discussing that Ron Paul isn't a communist, but has to run as a Republican and but that Ron Paul is against Red Republicanism. Dr. Paul is alleged to be a true Democrat but not a modern communist Democrat as he explains on page 29.

"Dr. Paul is much more a traditional Democrat. I refer of course to the Democrat Party before the Communist takeover, which began with the election of Woodrow (Federal Reserve -Income Tax-World War I) Wilson and was consummated with the election of liar, swindler, thief, traitor, and mass murderer Franklin Delano Roosevelt."

In the end notes for the article, the reader is urged to visit http://www.alanstang.com/ for additional articles.

So I did and looked at the books he writes and has for sale.

Alan Stang sees many conspiracies in the Republican party and is the author of a book, "Not Holier Than Though" (http://alanstang.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=15&zenid=8345353ecd6ab41c78def320548c1822) which asserts that George W. Bush and Karl Rove "have colluded to make the Republican Party a sodomite organization from the top down."