Here’s an insightful comment about history’s vitality from Dany Fleming. He wrote it in response to yesterday’s post about John Hope Franklin’s The Emancipation Proclamation.
I look forward to reading some of Franklin’s thoughts. It’s fascinating to see how Lincoln’s ideas and actions are diced and sliced and then put into new contexts to serve the purpose at hand. As you would imagine, where I am in Virginia, the loudest arguments here are that Lincoln’s efforts to “appease” the South were more about his true feelings than about political expediency or his efforts to unite.
He’s still a villain in many corners around here. The Lincoln family cemetery is just outside of Harrisonburg – where his father was born. Until recently, it was in complete disrepair. That it even existed was news to me until recently. However, maintaining every Civil War battle ground is huge and serious business here.
This small, local struggle over a cemetery and battle grounds from a war 150 years ago certainly provides some insight into the complexity of conflicts around the globe.
