North Carolina was named for King Charles I. I'm sure people could dig up all sorts of offensive shit he did. Too bad Facebook and Twitter weren't around back then, would probably be a gold mine of stuff to get the name changed.
That's a good question for @andrew jones.
The Civil War associations were very minor, and long after what was originally established as what a Tar Heel actually was. However, all Southern symbolism and culture of the Antebellum South has a target on it, now.
My aunt gave me a copy of that book for Christmas one year when I was about 5. It was read to me dozens of times. I can honestly say that I never made any association to ACTUAL PEOPLE from that story. I had no idea that people struggled with fantasy/fiction and reality.
The band Lady Antebellum recently announced they've changed their name to Lady A.
the PC crowd already hates inanimate objects. Give them numbers. I don't think they've started hating numbers yet.
Well, with Lady Antebellum, the implication is that they're tacitly glorifying the Antebellum South. That also implies that Southern Belles in hoop skirts with parasols, or anything that harkens back to WHITE affluence from plantation culture is automatically offensive because it was acquired from the prosperity on the backs of slave labor. It will be interesting to see how far it all goes.
but to be more on point, it isn't a reference to the Civil War itself, it's (usually) a reference to the period of time in the South when slavery happened to be practiced unimpeded (that is, before the war). After the war, slavery no more. Tremendous change of all sorts occured as a result of the war, and antebellum refers to the time before those changes came about. So 'antebellum' celebrates a South where slavery was in full swing. I don't mean to say it particularly celebrates or focuses on slavery....and it usually isn't used that way....but you know how that kind of thing goes.
A blues singer? So a bunch of white chicks just stole the name of a singer from a genre of music that is historically black music?
Joel Chandler Harris’s stories have as the hero an older black gentleman teaching the white children about life through the lives of the animals around them. I grew up on them. I loved those stories and characters and antics. I read them to my children and grandchildren. I haven’t observed any residual racism from such endeavors. It was a time in history that is past. Revisionists are always looking to make the past in their image. Historians are among the worst. I can’t change when or where or who I was begat by, but I am responsible for who I am and became. But how far back do you have to go to make change? 400 years is certainly insufficient. It’s only 4,000 years back to Abram - 3,000 years back to David. Well, that’s insufficient too! There are wrongs to right, but too many folk got their feelings on their sleeve. I always recall what my maternal grandmother, a young woman who grew up in the post-war South, told me as a child - “your rights end, where my nose begins, and my rights end, where your nose begins.” Be kind, be loving, be generous, work hard, help the needy, the poor, the downtrodden, for we all answer to a higher call than ourselves. Whew! Longer than I intended. Love you guys, and gals, all. If that’s gender inappropriate, kiss off!
I've actually had in-person discussions with "academics" who are sort of indirectly (or, in some cases drectly) discouraging literature like that. Of course, they're all white people. And, they're always from the North (or midwest), and they insist that it's pervasive and it rationalizes racist behavior. And, the discussion was specifically "Brer Rabbit and The Tar Baby" and "Little Black Sambo." They wanted these stories removed from circulation! I was actually pissed-off at this point. I said "Do you want to censor Mark Twain? How about William Faulkner? Harper Lee? Is she going to be on the list? I guess we keep 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' because it helped empower abolitionists? Maybe not! The subject matter of that book isn't too far removed from Joel Chandler Harris! There seems to be outrage against Abraham Lincoln, now!" I realize there is a reckoning occurring, I really do. But, when people start condoning censorship of literature, I just don't like that direction. Banning literature is just fukked-up, to me.Joel Chandler Harris’s stories have as the hero an older black gentleman teaching the white children about life through the lives of the animals around them. I grew up on them. I loved those stories and characters and antics. I read them to my children and grandchildren. I haven’t observed any residual racism from such endeavors. It was a time in history that is past. Revisionists are always looking to make the past in their image. Historians are among the worst. I can’t change when or where or who I was begat by, but I am responsible for who I am and became. But how far back do you have to go to make change? 400 years is certainly insufficient. It’s only 4,000 years back to Abram - 3,000 years back to David. Well, that’s insufficient too! There are wrongs to right, but too many folk got their feelings on their sleeve. I always recall what my maternal grandmother, a young woman who grew up in the post-war South, told me as a child - “your rights end, where my nose begins, and my rights end, where your nose begins.” Be kind, be loving, be generous, work hard, help the needy, the poor, the downtrodden, for we all answer to a higher call than ourselves. Whew! Longer than I intended. Love you guys, and gals, all. If that’s gender inappropriate, kiss off!
Perhaps, North Carolina should be removed since it infers a colonial racist colony? The University at Chapel Hill.
It's a public University. Need to separate church and state, so no "Chapel" allowed.
nice, VERY nice.Joel Chandler Harris’s stories have as the hero an older black gentleman teaching the white children about life through the lives of the animals around them. I grew up on them. I loved those stories and characters and antics. I read them to my children and grandchildren. I haven’t observed any residual racism from such endeavors. It was a time in history that is past. Revisionists are always looking to make the past in their image. Historians are among the worst. I can’t change when or where or who I was begat by, but I am responsible for who I am and became. But how far back do you have to go to make change? 400 years is certainly insufficient. It’s only 4,000 years back to Abram - 3,000 years back to David. Well, that’s insufficient too! There are wrongs to right, but too many folk got their feelings on their sleeve. I always recall what my maternal grandmother, a young woman who grew up in the post-war South, told me as a child - “your rights end, where my nose begins, and my rights end, where your nose begins.” Be kind, be loving, be generous, work hard, help the needy, the poor, the downtrodden, for we all answer to a higher call than ourselves. Whew! Longer than I intended. Love you guys, and gals, all. If that’s gender inappropriate, kiss off!
Are there any buildings on the campus that are named for white people... who are from, or associated with NC, or the university... that weren't "racist" by today's standards. I mean, sheezus. If you look up each of these people, they all have "philanthropy" in their resume. Aycock is "The Education Governor" for piss'sakes.
Some of these guys were influential with creating Duke University, but we forgave them for that!
The university might not even exist if it weren't for all of these people. I realize they were fervent white supremacists. I'm not defending their racism. I'm just trying to offer that they were more than just racists. The list of white people in American history that have been glorified- and also don't meet the current standards for NOT being racist- is very, very long. I think it might be a good idea to be able to differentiate their positive contributions and give them some credit for it. Don't mimic their traits that bother you. But, don't think you're superior to them, either. They're no longer here to defend themselves, or, perhaps even be convinced to change their own minds.
I agree to an extent. I mean... every step is part of the process.
