The Trump administration has ordered the National Park Service to remove multiple exhibits, signs and materials linked to slavery from its sites, including a photograph of a formerly enslaved man with scars on his back that became a defining image of the Civil War era, according to multiple outlets.
The move follows a Trump executive order from March that directed the Department of the Interior to ensure national parks don’t contain content that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living” in a push to focus on the country’s “greatness” instead.
The photo is known as "the scourged back."
Gordon has been whipped and heavily scarred by his former owners or captors.
He was an enslaved man who had escaped from Mississippi and reached a Union Army camp in Louisiana in 1863.
Or better yet, let's sweep it under the rug instead and pretend it never happened.
Wouldn't want to upset anybody.
The photograph is attributed to two photographers, McPherson and Oliver, who were in the camp at the time.
But this photo, and many others like it that show a window into the darker past of our country's history, will no longer be accessible at public sites.
Because it makes certain white people feel bad about our legacy and we can't have that, can we?
I look at the palpable hatred on the white faces during the earliest stages of desegregation and think that perhaps a certain amount of shame is indeed appropriate.
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3 comments:
It is so devastating. Its unspeakable but we must speak - must not remain silent. We as a country are responding in the isolationist boldly two-faced way. - "conspicuous by our absence" - and YES by our silence.of all things is what our democracy has been hoped and fought WWII for, I am am watching and experiencing dread, disgust, nausea within me the last few years watching in horror too. People are immobilized with fear as they cant see it. Don't want to see it. Reguse to believe it. In our heart break we know this is what has been planned by a new architect of evil: SM and his other groups and minions including the DJT named "alcoholic"- - another Steve. . I am not afraid to share my name and won't write again but am as horrified as you. What can each person do ti feel their voice is heard? The supreme court has been bought. Of course Anita Hill was right. Why did people not believe her? Because his spouse was white? A "God-fearing" praying white woman no less? Females joinrd the klan too and girls are in the school kid audience in the photo.
I agree with Anonymous…. Except I will publish my name: Mike! Scary times for our very fragile democracy!
People near where I live are scared. Vienna and McLean are both heavily populated bt government employees and consultants. Mg is one of them. I worked at the FBI about 25 years ago. I found it much better than I expected. Robert, I remember you asking how I could do it with my political views. I was surprised by it all. It sure beat working for nasdaq.
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