Confederate Monument located in Elmwood Cemetery – Norfolk, Virginia
In light of the recent focus on removing Confederacy-related statues, and monuments of those who supported the transatlantic slave trade and/or the “peculiar institution” of slavery in what is now the United States of America, a deeper look at history can be helpful to understanding the thoughts of people who support leaving the monuments in place, and those who prefer them moved to places that some consider to be more acceptable: cemeteries and museums. It’s obviously a debate that’s being held all over the country right now, and a worthy one. But is there another conversation about where and how history is remembered and presented that is being missed? Let’s look back at who was responsible for much of the history that was presented in the American history textbooks that shaped the conversations and beliefs that we see today.
There is a phrase heard frequently that “history is written by the victors,” but in the case of the Civil War, the Confederacy lost the war but were later able to have a huge influence on how the story of the war, and slavery, is told. Case in point: The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC).
In 1919, 54 years after the end of the war (that surrender at Appomattox), a commission was formed by the United Confederate Veterans (UCV). It consisted of five representative members each, from the UCV, the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV), and the UDC. The Rutherford Committee, as it was called, was named after Mildred Lewis Rutherford: a well known supporter and storyteller about a particular peculiar institution (“happy” slaves), the South as a victim of North (they were mean and didn’t want to play fair!), and the KKK (well, they protected White women and children, right?).
Mildred Rutherford later went on to publish a pamphlet called “A Measuring Rod to Test Text Books, and Reference Books in Schools, Colleges and Libraries,” which was used to ensure that the history of the “benevolent” and valiant southern war heroes and the “benevolent” southern supporters of slavery were presented with the loudest voices to the public, and not just those in the south. But they lost the war, remember? Who says women didn’t have power before they could vote? Well, that’s another story for another day in this year that we’re celebrating the 100-year anniversary of women gaining that right. Meanwhile, watch this video for some background on history (or her story?).
Whew, right? But wait, there’s more!
Here are some excerpts from an article presented by the magazine, “Facing South,” which show “history” as quoted from textbooks in 1957.
Life among the Negroes of Virginia in slavery times was generally happy. The Negroes went about in a cheerful manner making a living for themselves and for those for whom they worked.
Fourth grade history book, Virginia History
[Slaves]… did not work so hard as the average free laborer, since he did not have to worry about losing his job. In fact, the slave enjoyed what we might call comprehensive social security. Generally speaking, his food was plentiful, his clothing adequate, his cabin warm, his health protected and his leisure carefree.
Virginia high school history book, Cavalier Commonwealth
Raise your hand if you didn’t know that enslaved Africans had it so good: food, clothing, shelter, healthcare, vacation, (okay, maybe staycations) and you got to look down on the lowly “free” laborers who worked harder than you did. Nice work if you can get it, right? (Yeah, no.)
And a last exerpt from the article:
Up until 1980, Mississippi’s public schools used Lost Cause textbooks exclusively — and it took a federal court order to make them stop.
Photo title: “The United Daughters of the Confederacy Reception Room, used as a House of Representatives committee room at the Mississippi State Capitol in Jackson”; Created/Published: 2017-11-03; Photographs in the Ben May Charitable Trust Collection of Mississippi Photographs in the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Notice the date of the photo above: November of 2017. That’s less than three years ago.
The following are photos of the partial removal of the “Johnny Reb” Confederate Monument, which was located literally in the middle of Main Street, in Norfolk VA. The image of the soldier (not pictured) was removed on June 12, with the balance of the removal to be completed later. According to Norfolk Mayor, Kenneth Cooper Alexander, in this 13 News Nowarticle, the “Virginia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans did not oppose the proposed move to Elmwood Cemetery where the monument will stand amongst the graves of Confederate soldiers.”
Maybe it would benefit our united and freshly “woke” selves to pay as much attention to history textbooks and library collections, as we do to statues.
Bonus read: The video mentioned a document called the Confederate Catechism that was taught to schoolchildren. You can (and should!) read it here. You know how we love primary resources, and it’s perfectly okay for you to read it even if it’s been a while since you were young enough to skip history class.
Oh, and don’t forget to read the 23-page pamphlet, A Measuring Rod to Test Text Books, and Reference Books in Schools, Colleges and Libraries, here. Within the link, scroll down and you will see several options for you to be able to read the document, in addition to the option to listen to a choppy (but accurate) audio version.
*****The mission of the Don’t Duck History program is to promote and facilitate the learning and sharing of American history, along with its personal and social implications, and to highlight the history of Americans whose stories are not often presented in traditional American history textbooks.
Don’t Duck History is a program of United Charitable, a registered public 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
Photo from the Journal and Guide, February 14, 1942
Old Newspapers To The Rescue
For those of us who are average citizens simply trying to understand the COVID-19 pandemic, from its scale to just little things that we can do or should know, it can be difficult and sometimes overwhelming. I often look to history for understanding, sometimes using old newspapers in the process, and once again, history and old newspaper articles have not disappointed, this time, when I wasn’t exactly looking for what was found.
I was looking for somewhat coronavirus-related material in archives of the Journal and Guide, a 120-year-old, African American newspaper based in Norfolk Virginia, and stumbled upon an article about a tuberculosis epidemic that was active in 1942, during the war. Somewhat related, in that I was researching a topic specific to WWII, and the fight against the new virus has been compared to an actual war. I’ve learned to scan the pages that result from my keyword searches, and this is one example of why.
Journal and Guide, February 14, 1942
From the top heading to the first article, it is clear that attention is on tuberculosis, specifically in the Black population of Virginia. Recent news and evidence has shown that just as in the cases of tuberculosis at the time of the war, cases of COVID-19 are showing a similar trend to past cases of TB. Within the United States today, in certain areas that have documented the race of those who have tested positive and/or died from the infection, higher rates of infection and/or death have sometimes been observed in non-white citizens. This writing is primarily taking a closer look at the African American and white European American populations, as they are the racial groups either primarily or exclusively referred to in the articles used. Within those racial groups as they relate to American history, another observation of past and present comes into play – systemic racism. From an April 14, 2020 opinion (and sourced) article in the New York Times, columnist Jamelle Bouie notes:
…if you look at the full picture of American society, it is clear that the structural position of black Americans isn’t so different than it was at the advent of the industrial age. Race still shapes personhood; it still marks the boundaries of who belongs and who doesn’t; of which groups face the brunt of capitalist inequality (in all its forms) and which get some respite. Race, in other words, still answers the question of “who.” Who will live in crowded, segregated neighborhoods? Who will be exposed to lead-poisoned pipes and toxic waste? Who will live with polluted air and suffer disproportionately from maladies like asthma and heart disease? And when disease comes, who will be the first to succumb in large numbers?
If there was anything you could predict about this pandemic — anything you could be certain about once it reached America’s shores — it was that some communities would weather the storm while others would sink under the waves, and that the distribution of this suffering would have everything to do with patterns inscribed by the past.
What more do we know of the history? A little more digging, and let’s look at the Piedmont Sanatorium, mentioned in the Journal and Guide article that was pictured earlier. By the way, “Sanatorium” was the name used for facilities that treated chronic illnesses, over what would usually be an extended period of time, and ironically, tuberculosis was sometimes referred to as the “white plague.” It’s always complicated.
Piedmont Sanatorium, Burkeville VA photo courtesy: asylum projects.org
According to AsylumProjects.org, after local residents in both Ivor and Lynchburg refused to have the sanatorium housed within their limits, somehow the Virginia State Board of Health ultimately allowed the 1918 establishment of the facility in Burkeville VA, over protests of residents there, as well. From the start of its operation, education as well as treatment was expected and delivered:
An important goal of the treatment of tubercular blacks was their eventual re-entry into productive society. In 1919, Miss Helen Morris was hired as the sanatorium’s first occupational therapist. She led the patients in handicraft activities. Some patients were taught skills that they would be able to use once returning to the real world. Piedmont patients were also expected to serve as role models for tubercular blacks who could not come to Piedmont. The Piedmont staff taught their patients the proper ways to dispose of sputum and other ways to handle the ills of tuberculosis in hopes that their patients would return to their home communities and teach other African-Americans about tuberculosis. Educating the black population about tuberculosis took place both on and off the Piedmont site. Patients at the sanatorium were required to attend weekly lectures to learn more about tuberculosis. Field clinics were established to diagnose blacks in other areas of Virginia and to give advice on dealing with the disease. By focusing on the black population as a whole, rather than merely the patients who received treatment at the sanatorium, Piedmont provided widespread benefits to society.
How what could have been viewed as a progressive stance taken by the state happened, is unclear. Self-preservation (the long-term protection of state funds by spending money on the front end vs. the back end) could have been a motivator, but continued separation of the two races could have been a consideration as well. Were politics at play? That’s also a possibility. Nevertheless, the Piedmont Sanatorium served both patients, students, and society in general.
Shortly after the sanatorium opened, a nursing school for black women was established on the Piedmont site. The Nursing School at Piedmont Sanatorium offered a tuberculosis specific curriculum. The program was only for two years and allowed black women to become certified specifically in tuberculosis nursing. If these women wanted to become registered nurses, they had to complete a third year of training at St. Phillips Hospital in Richmond. The ultimate goal of establishing the nursing school for tuberculosis, it may be assumed, was to have these nurses work with the black population at large to fight tuberculosis.
Graduating nurses. Journal and Guide, June 1, 1929
Medical Science to the Rescue
Did the sanatorium make a difference? It did, but according to the following article, the writer suggests that had the states (not just Virginia) leaned more away from the political influences, and more into humanitarian efforts, the drop in tuberculosis rates would have been even greater.
Instead of treating tuberculosis medically at its source, the States have treated it politically in its course, after it was contracted. It provided two white hospital beds for white patients for every one bed provided for colored patients. To have done otherwise would have been a political risk. But while they were following the usual course of political action the scourage [sic] was spreading among both races. While the Negro’s house burned the fire men turned the hose on the white house in the next block, which was not on fire.
Excerpt: “Medical Science to the Rescue of the State,” Journal and Guide, December 11, 1954.
“Medical Science to the Rescue of the State,” Journal and Guide, December 11, 1954.Related article about improvement of infection numbers in Norfolk VA,“Tuberculosis Fight Showing Results Here,” Journal and Guide, February 7, 1931
What Do We Know Today, Regarding COVID-19?
Regarding the novel coronavirus, at the time of this writing, scientists and medical professionals (especially to include epidemiologists) are still looking at patterns and looking for a cure. Because the information changes and/or is updated frequently, a central place to find current information is the website https://www.coronavirus.gov/. There is, however, some additional information that you may find interesting and/or helpful.
While looking at and explaining the current situation with COVID-19, scientists sometimes compare it to the flu, while acknowledging that the two are not the same. Of course, tuberculosis isn’t the same, either, but they all have the common trait of being respiratory illnesses.
In the category of “nutrients,” a journal entry published on April 2, 2020 in the National Institute of Health publication, PubMed, information is shared that a healthy level of vitamin D may be instrumental in protection against the flu and the coronavirus, as the vitamin can have a positive affect on infections, in general. Here’s an excerpt:
This article reviews the roles of vitamin D in reducing the risk of respiratory tract infections, knowledge about the epidemiology of influenza and COVID-19, and how vitamin D supplementation might be a useful measure to reduce risk. Through several mechanisms, vitamin D can reduce risk of infections. Those mechanisms include inducing cathelicidins and defensins that can lower viral replication rates and reducing concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines that produce the inflammation that injures the lining of the lungs, leading to pneumonia, as well as increasing concentrations of anti-inflammatory cytokines. Several observational studies and clinical trials reported that vitamin D supplementation reduced the risk of influenza, whereas others did not. Evidence supporting the role of vitamin D in reducing risk of COVID-19 includes that the outbreak occurred in winter, a time when 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations are lowest; that the number of cases in the Southern Hemisphere near the end of summer are low; that vitamin D deficiency has been found to contribute to acute respiratory distress syndrome; and that case-fatality rates increase with age and with chronic disease comorbidity, both of which are associated with lower 25(OH)D concentration.
Grant WB, Lahore H, McDonnell SL, et al. Evidence that Vitamin D Supplementation Could Reduce Risk of Influenza and COVID-19 Infections and Deaths. Nutrients. 2020;12(4):E988. Published 2020 Apr 2. doi:10.3390/nu12040988 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32252338/
Interestingly, from a different PubMed entry, an additional exerpt:
Vitamin D insufficiency is more prevalent among African Americans (blacks) than other Americans and, in North America, most young, healthy blacks do not achieve optimal 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations at any time of year. This is primarily due to the fact that pigmentation reduces vitamin D production in the skin. Also, from about puberty and onward, median vitamin D intakes of American blacks are below recommended intakes in every age group, with or without the inclusion of vitamin D from supplements.
So, maybe this journal down the rabbit hole of history via an old newspaper and medical science, is also a reason to speak with your doctor about your vitamin D level.
Stay safe, and if you find that you have more time on your hands than usual – in addition to washing your hands frequently, use them to read more old newspapers at the link provided below.
*****The mission of the Don’t Duck History program is to promote and facilitate the learning and sharing of American history, along with its personal and social implications, and to highlight the history of Americans whose stories are not often presented in traditional American history textbooks.
Don’t Duck History is a program of United Charitable, a registered public 501(c)(3) nonprofit. If you appreciated this writing, follow the blog for more American history, and consider a making a donation. Ducks need to eat, too! DONATE HERE
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