When it comes to the south and its history, you imagine either some sort of image resembling Little House on the Praire or slavery. Our thinking simply reflects the type of books we read. Historical southern fiction either portrays "refined, whitewashed folklore" (Sugar) or a slave's laborious and torturous living hell. We hardly see an in-between. So then what's the true story?
In 1811, on the German Coast in Louisana, the largest slave uprising in U.S. history occurred. In fact, "the execution tally was nearly twice as high as the number in Nat Turner's rebellion." Then why, you may ask, have we never heard of it? At the time, official reports of the incident described it as a band of "brigades," knowing that the reality of a well-organized slave revolt would be a threat to the institution ("How a Nearly Successful Slave Revolt Was Intentionally Lost to History"). And I have no doubts that cover-ups like this have occurred a numerous amount of times in history. But it's also wrong to say that all southern fiction or even non-fiction is deliberately romanticized and corrupted.
The picture-perfect white life we read about isn't a cover-up. Lots of people lived like that: with fancy houses, acres of land, and servants to cater to their every need. And often times, these residents didn't have to see the brutality that slaves lived in. So it's not wrong that books depict southern history in such a way, but it's necessary that as readers, we realize that glorified plantation life was not the common experience. There's always more to it.
I really liked the stance you took on your claim. Personally, I had never really stopped to think about how many whites actually lived as they are portrayed to in all the novels during that time period. I also think you did a very nice job using outside sources to help explain and support your position.
ReplyDeletewow this was so interesting and well written. I'm so surprised that we never heard of that slave revolt - did Brinkley lie to us!? I love your sentence about how as readers we need to recognize that there's always more to it. Oftentimes, the books we read are simply reflections of an author's bias or life experiences, but in fiction especially, we can't recognize it because we assume that it's just a story.
ReplyDeleteWow! this was amazing, i like how you touched upon perspective. School textbooks often cannot put in such graphic and violent images and words; they are only able to touch upon the horrors of what truly happened, but just because it is not explicitly written down does not mean that we should remain ignorant to all the suffering that people have experienced.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you said that the picture perfect white life is not a coverup. I guess I never really realized that the way whites lived was actually a pretty accurate portrayal during that time period in history.
ReplyDeleteFirst, wow. This was very well written. I love how you compared our individual thought processes to the books we read. I found it very interesting that we've never heard of that uprising that nearly succeeded. Your blogs are always a good read!
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