Gov. Otto Kerner announced Illinois's Civil War Centennial Commission will not attend the National Civil War Centennial commemoration of the firing on Fort Sumter in Charleston, S.C., April 11 and 12 because all members of the commission will not be welcome at the ceremony. New Jersey and New York have also withdrawn from participation in the ceremony. The unwelcome members the governor referred to are thought to be Negroes.South Carolina's lack of hospitality only contributed to the era's civil rights debate, with heirs to the abolitionist cause reminded once again that although the South had surrendered, it had not been won over; while heirs of the rebel cause got to work stitching the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia into their state flags.
At least this past year, gray suits were optional at a sesquicentennial ball held in Charleston.
2 comments:
When my brother and I were the only Yankees attending Eakin Elementary School in Nashville from 1960-1962, we were shocked that we didn't get off for Memorial Day -- evidently it had started out as a Union celebration. We DID get off for Confederate Memorial Day, though.
Bad history. Decoration Day originated in the South, with a Confederate sympathizer decorating Rebel and Union graves, Perhaps Eakin developed amnesia as a way of pushing back against civil rights.
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