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Virginia 4th-grade textbook criticized over claims on black Confederate soldiers
The Washington Post ^ | 20 Oct 2010 | Kevin Sieff

Posted on 10/20/2010 8:19:20 AM PDT by Palter

A textbook distributed to Virginia fourth-graders says that thousands of African Americans fought for the South during the Civil War -- a claim rejected by most historians but often made by groups seeking to play down slavery's role as a cause of the conflict.

The passage appears in "Our Virginia: Past and Present," which was distributed in the state's public elementary schools for the first time last month. The author, Joy Masoff, who is not a trained historian but has written several books, said she found the information about black Confederate soldiers primarily through Internet research, which turned up work by members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Scholars are nearly unanimous in calling these accounts of black Confederate soldiers a misrepresentation of history. Virginia education officials, after being told by The Washington Post of the issues related to the textbook, said that the vetting of the book was flawed and that they will contact school districts across the state to caution them against teaching the passage.

"Just because a book is approved doesn't mean the Department of Education endorses every sentence," said spokesman Charles Pyle. He also called the book's assertion about black Confederate soldiers "outside mainstream Civil War scholarship."

Masoff defended her work. "As controversial as it is, I stand by what I write," she said. "I am a fairly respected writer."

The issues first came to light after College of William & Mary historian Carol Sheriff opened her daughter's copy of "Our Virginia" and saw the reference to black Confederate soldiers.

"It's disconcerting that the next generation is being taught history based on an unfounded claim instead of accepted scholarship," Sheriff said. "It concerns me not just as a professional historian but as a parent."

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: black; blackconfederates; civilwar; confederate; dixie; godsgravesglyphs; history; historyeducation; soldiers; virginia
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To: Non-Sequitur
If you're going to talk about me, at least have the common decency to ping me.

And the e-zine rocks!

101 posted on 10/20/2010 11:07:21 AM PDT by carton253 (Ask me about The Stainless Banner - a free e-zine dedicated to the armies of the Confederacy.)
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To: rockrr

Any freeper spending any time on a Civil War thread knows who the usual suspects are.


102 posted on 10/20/2010 11:09:01 AM PDT by carton253 (Ask me about The Stainless Banner - a free e-zine dedicated to the armies of the Confederacy.)
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To: carton253
And the e-zine rocks!

I'm sure it does. Sign me up.

103 posted on 10/20/2010 11:11:02 AM PDT by Non-Sequitur (Hey mo-joe! Here's another one for your collection.)
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To: AuntB

“Many slaves did serve the Confederacy” You seem to think that all blacks were slaves. There were a lot of free black business owners in New Orleans when it was attacked by Union forces. They defended the city against General Butler, who eventually captured and occupied New Orleans. But they tried valiantly to defend their city.


104 posted on 10/20/2010 11:13:47 AM PDT by sportutegrl
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To: Non-Sequitur

If you want.


105 posted on 10/20/2010 11:17:11 AM PDT by carton253 (Ask me about The Stainless Banner - a free e-zine dedicated to the armies of the Confederacy.)
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To: Non-Sequitur

Once again, fabrications and non-sequiturs Nancy dearie.

Any statement that the 1st Louisiana Native Guard, organized as a Louisiana State Militia Unit and accepted for service by the Governor, changed sides en masse is FALSE. The fantasy that the United States colored troops were “188,000 Black soldiers” when their ranks also held the Hispanic, Native Peoples, and other non-whites who were not allowed to serve in the ranks of the segregated Union Army is also typical of rewritten history.

According to the records of the Union Army, General Butler’s own memoirs, and the recently-published diary of Col. Banks, Commanding Officer of the 2nd Louisiana Native Guard, only six of twenty-six Confederate Native Guard officers accepted Union service (and were driven out of service within a few months), while less than ten percent of the rank-and-file of the Confederate 1st Louisiana accepted Union service.

That only twenty-three percent of the officers and less than ten percent of the enlisted men of the 1st Louisiana Native Guard switched sides is ample evidence that there was little enthusiasm for the offer made by Butler.

The 1st Louisiana Native Guard, CSA, can trace its origins to the Louisiana Battalion of Free Men of Color who served under Jackson in the War of 1812 and whose officers were the first Black military officers in U.S. history.


106 posted on 10/20/2010 11:27:42 AM PDT by mojitojoe (Caractacus..or Bob if a boy & Boudicca if a girl....such hard decisions for dearie Snidely)
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To: carton253; Non-Sequitur

Hey, I like stuff that rocks! Sign me up too please.


107 posted on 10/20/2010 11:28:36 AM PDT by rockrr (Everything is different now)
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To: netmilsmom
I’d like to know what Walter Williams says about it.
He busted the myth of only whites owned slaves.


It was in Fogel's Time on the Cross. According to records from New Orleans, there was a greater percentage of free blacks than whites in the South who owned slaves (and some of the operations were very large).
108 posted on 10/20/2010 11:38:40 AM PDT by aruanan
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To: sportutegrl

““Many slaves did serve the Confederacy” You seem to think that all blacks were slaves.”

I never said that. Never insinuated it. It’s sad that so many of you put words in other people’s mouths.


109 posted on 10/20/2010 11:41:33 AM PDT by AuntB (Illegal immigration is simply more "share the wealth" socialism and a CRIME not a race!)
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To: rockrr; Non-Sequitur

Just freepmail me your name and email address or send an email to thestainlessbanner@gmail.com


110 posted on 10/20/2010 11:44:13 AM PDT by carton253 (Ask me about The Stainless Banner - a free e-zine dedicated to the armies of the Confederacy.)
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To: mojitojoe
Once again, fabrications and non-sequiturs Nancy dearie.

Ah, I see that half-day kindergarden has let out in Florida.

Any statement that the 1st Louisiana Native Guard, organized as a Louisiana State Militia Unit and accepted for service by the Governor, changed sides en masse is FALSE.

A correct statement, though given your history it's accuracy was no doubt accidental on your part.

The fantasy that the United States colored troops were “188,000 Black soldiers” when their ranks also held the Hispanic, Native Peoples, and other non-whites who were not allowed to serve in the ranks of the segregated Union Army is also typical of rewritten history.

And that is pure fantasy. Ely Parker is an example of a full-blooded Seneca who not only did not serve in a segregated regiment but was acually a high-ranking officer. The Union army recruited several regiments of Cherokee, Creek and Choctaw and, like the confederate army, they were organized into their own regiments - the 1st through 4th Indian Home Guard, USV. As for Hispanics, your claim is pure nonsense. There is evidence of a number of Hispanics serving throughout the Union Army. Julius Peter Garesché was a Cuban lieutenant colonel and member of Rosecran's staff killed at Stone's River. Miguel E. Pino was a colonel and commanded the 2nd New Mexico at Valverde and Glorioso Pass. Federico Fernández Cavada was another Cuban who commanded the 114th Pennsylvania at Gettysburg, his brother was also a Union officer. Alverez de la Mesa was an officer with the 39th New York. And Spanish and Hispanic soldiers served in other regiments. If any of those regiments were USCT, then those men were with those units by choice.

The 1st Louisiana Native Guard, CSA, can trace its origins to the Louisiana Battalion of Free Men of Color who served under Jackson in the War of 1812 and whose officers were the first Black military officers in U.S. history.

But can trace no actice service with the confederate army because, after all, they were still Men of Color and that wasn't allowed as soldiers in the csa.

111 posted on 10/20/2010 12:04:13 PM PDT by Non-Sequitur (Hey mo-joe! Here's another one for your collection.)
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To: aruanan
According to records from New Orleans, there was a greater percentage of free blacks than whites in the South who owned slaves (and some of the operations were very large).

Louisiana was an anomaly compared to the rest of the south. Under the French (and to a lesser extent Spanish) influence, the children of white fathers and slave mothers were far more likely to be acknowledged and to inherit property. But even generations removed from that racial mixing--quadroons, octaroons, etc.--these Creoles were still counted as black. This is why New Orleans alone seems to have more black slaveowners than much of the rest of the south combined.

112 posted on 10/20/2010 1:00:56 PM PDT by Bubba Ho-Tep ("More weight!"--Giles Corey)
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To: combat_boots

Being from North Dakota I aint too educated, so what exactly is “hoy toy”?


113 posted on 10/20/2010 1:11:22 PM PDT by Docbarleypop
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To: Docbarleypop

Oh. Just another way of saying uppity/gentry I guess.


114 posted on 10/20/2010 1:12:47 PM PDT by combat_boots (The Lion of Judah cometh. Hallelujah. Gloria Patri, Filio et Spiritui Sancto.)
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To: combat_boots

OH, we just call them Minnesotans, thanks for the cultural clarification!


115 posted on 10/20/2010 1:19:25 PM PDT by Docbarleypop
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To: Non-Sequitur
Ah, I see that half-day kindergarden has let out in Florida. __________________

kindergarten NOT kindergarden dodo.

Photobucket

116 posted on 10/20/2010 1:33:11 PM PDT by mojitojoe (Caractacus..or Bob if a boy & Boudicca if a girl....such hard decisions for dearie Snidely)
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To: mojitojoe

Hit a sore point, did I? Understandable, since I’m sure kindergarten has covered the best years of your life.


117 posted on 10/20/2010 1:39:54 PM PDT by Non-Sequitur (Hey mo-joe! Here's another one for your collection.)
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To: Non-Sequitur

No-mo-joe’s really got you on the ropes now. You probably should just hang it up ;-)


118 posted on 10/20/2010 1:56:25 PM PDT by rockrr (Everything is different now)
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To: rockrr

Oh woe is me.


119 posted on 10/20/2010 2:07:47 PM PDT by Non-Sequitur (Hey mo-joe! Here's another one for your collection.)
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To: Palter

“The younger Ellisons contributed more than farm produce, labor and money to the Confederate cause. On March 27, 1863 John Wilson Buckner, William Ellison’s oldest grandson, enlisted in the 1st South Carolina Artillery. Buckner served in the company of Captains P.P. Galliard and A.H. Boykin, local white men who knew that Buckner was a Negro. Although it was illegal at the time for a Negro to formally join the Confederate forces, the Ellison family’s prestige nullified the law in the minds of Buckner’s comrades. Buckner was wounded in action on July 12, 1863. At his funeral in Stateburg in August, 1895 he was praised by his former Confederate officers as being a “faithful soldier.””

DIXIE’S CENSORED SUBJECT
BLACK SLAVEOWNERS
By Robert M. Grooms
© 1997


120 posted on 10/20/2010 2:14:41 PM PDT by Rebeleye (retired veteran)
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