Winslow Homer’s The War for the Union, 1862 - A Bayonet Charge(Rama/Wikimedia Commons)
Civil War Anniversary: Celebration of Confederacy or Segregation Reminder?
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Today marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War. For whites in the south, the anniversary marks the start of a proud military engagement. For blacks in the south, the war led to the end of slavery and the start of the civil rights movement. And while celebrations for the event will be grand in scale and scope, this year's commemoration will not reverberate nationally as it did during the centennial. How do the two anniversaries compare?
t became difficult for the country to create a narrative around the Civil War and freedom and liberty, when African-Americans inside the country felt still oppressed by laws and by customs.
— William Boone William Boone, professor of political science at Clark Atlanta University
Looking At The Civil War 150 Years Later
historian Adam Goodheart explains how national leaders and ordinary citizens responded to the chaos and uncertainty in the days and months before and after the struggle at Fort Sumter, an almost-bloodless two-day battle that became the start of the Civil War almost by mistake.
1861: The Civil War Awakening Read An Excerpt
Tracing President Lincoln's Thoughts On Slavery
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But like many Americans, Lincoln was unsure what to do once slavery ended.
"Lincoln said during the Civil War that he had always seen slavery as unjust. He said he couldn't remember when he didn't think that way — and there's no reason to doubt the accuracy or sincerity of that statement," explains historian Eric Foner. "The problem arises with the next question: What do you do with slavery, given that it's unjust? Lincoln took a very long time to try to figure out exactly what steps ought to be taken."
'Send them back to Africa,' he says. And this was not an unusual position at this time."
