Free Republic

May 26, 2003, 9:00 PM --The most powerful accomplishment of tonight's segment of the PBS program, Ken Burns' "Congress," is that Mr. Burns managed to describe the period of official racism in America from just prior to the Civil War to the post-Reconstruction era, without once identifying a pro-slavery congressman or senator as a Democrat. When the Republicans outlawed slavery (which is exactly what actually happened), guess who walked out of the House and the Senate. Their party begins with the letter "D." Guess who after the Civil War worked to disembowell the black franchise. You have it. The same...

Perhaps the most moving moment of Ken Burns' 11-hour documentary "The Civil War" is the reading of Sullivan Ballou's July 14, 1861, letter to "My very dear Sarah," written days before he was killed at the first Battle of Bull Run. Americans hearing his words 129 years later treasured them almost as much as the Union major's widow must have, reciting the letter at weddings and funerals.The Ballou letter epitomized the great achievement of Burns' film, which PBS is rebroadcasting over five nights beginning tonight. (8 p.m. on WEAO Channel 45/49 and at 9 p.m. on WVIZ Channel 25).Burns gave...

SEPTEMBER 3!