Uncategorized

Day 10… A little revolution now and then is a good thing. Or so I’ve heard.

26 Comments

 

We said goodbye to our company early on the morning of vacation day 10, promising to think about joining them for Christmas. The plan was to head down to Yorktown where I’d heard their American Revolution Museum was quite something….. but first, a Golden Corral buffet breakfast.

 

IMG_1529

 

Biscuits and gravy and cheesy hashbrown casserole.

Long live the artery clogging south!

The museum?

 

IMG_1654

 

Was everything they said it was…. and a little bit more.

 

IMG_1546

 

A sprawling place chock full of fascinating history.

(If that’s not your thing? Leave now… I’ll try not to hold it against you.)

2019 was the 400th anniversary of the arrival in America of the first enslaved people from West Africa and the museum devoted an entire section to the subject.

 

IMG_1530

 

Most of it was hard to read.

To view.

And to understand how seemingly otherwise good people could think this practice was just.

 

IMG_1532

 

But though horrible, it is a part of this country’s story.

 

IMG_1533

 

There were many free people of color during the Revolutionary era, and a large number fought alongside the patriots who would later come to own them.

A reprehensible thought.

 

IMG_1535

 

One of the most stunning documents was this:

 

IMG_1538

 

Seeing it in black and white gave me a chill.

 

IMG_1543

 

And the descriptions?

 

IMG_1544

 

Heartbreaking….

 

IMG_1542

 

I can’t even imagine.

 

IMG_1540

 

Even the father of our country wasn’t immune.

 

IMG_1541

 

I certainly never read that in any school textbook.

 

IMG_1545

 

Liberty… yes.

But not for all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

26 thoughts on “Day 10… A little revolution now and then is a good thing. Or so I’ve heard.”

  1. Slavery had some benefits: Most people don’t really know their own worth, but slaves had it defined to the penny.

    Yeah, in bad taste… which is why I never posted that list. It was inspired by a grade school teacher having her students come up with good things about slavery. But, after reading it I decided it would be best if that list stayed unpublished…

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  5. Like most of the “history” we were taught in school, they skipped over the hard parts. Even in “progressive” New England, families owned slaves. I would enjoy touring that museum. Thank you for sharing this post as you did – well done.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      3. Of course! I’ve hung in with you this far, I’m in for the long haul. When you get to the liquor store in New Hampshire, I’ll know we’re close.

        BTW, I saw a menu item for your hubs. It was a short rib grilled cheese sandwich with french onion soup to dip it in. How’s that?

        Liked by 1 person

      1. Closest one to me is 90 minutes away. So I do the all you can eat Steak Buffet instead. 5oz Sirloins and since both cooks are my boyfriends, I get mine made specially for me…..lol

        Liked by 1 person

  9. I was lucky enough to have an excellent high school history teacher, whom I learned just passed away a few weeks ago. She went into great detail about how, to put it mildly, complicated the history of the United States and its origin is. She went well beyond the textbook and was emphatic that historic figures were people, not abstractions, and that some did terrible things and some suffered terribly, and we hadn’t, and still haven’t, fully reckoned with that. Among other things our high school was named after a man who made a fortune in the slave trade.
    On a lighter note, though, once, while visiting a friend in Ohio, I introduced her family to biscuits and gravy. They were very grateful.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment