Quote:
Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby
The statue was erected in 1890, on Monument Avenue, which existed to glorify and celebrate people who fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War. Glorify and Celebrate - the people who rejected the Union (which was, at the time, what we know now as the United States of America) and fought against it. This war, this Civil War, was the culmination of an attempt to overturn the government. An insurrection of "monumental" proportions (pun intended). The population in Richmond was mostly wealthy white people and poverty-stricken black people. The abolition of slavery only happened 25 years prior, so most adults living there were former slaves with no job, no prospects, few people willing to actually PAY them to work. I would venture to guess that the blacks living in Richmond would not have been very happy to see the figure of their former oppressor be placed proudly and prominently in their town center.
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It is history. Our ancestor, Charles Schorn won the Congressional Medal of Honor for capturing the last flag of the Civil War at Appomattox. He was an eighteen year old kid who had migrated from Germany. He lived along the Ohio river in Pomeroy, Ohio and volunteered and fought with the West Virginia unit. He returned to be a barber in Pomeroy and was patriarch to an amazing group of people, one of them is my husband of sixty years.
Charles Schorn - Wikipedia
He was poor. Many of his descendants became wealthy and financially successful. I never heard any of them judge anyone on their finances. I never heard any of them say anything negative about the South and it's people.
The people who fought for the South felt as strongly as those that fought for the North I am sure. It wasn't just about slavery at all but about tribe and honor and their patriotism.
People who fought for the South were good people. I think Robert E. Lee was a military leader who was also a good man.
It isn't about biases and hatreds always. It is not about groups always. Each of us is an individual. I so dislike the people who think that folks who are rural or who live in the south are dumb and slow. I HATE that. Each of us then and now were and are individuals. Bigotry throws the baby out with the bath water.