Chapter 1 Fort Donelson

#Juneteenthallyear, By the beginning of 1862, most of the war had been fought in the East, and the United States Army had yet to win a major battle. That changed in February of 1862 when General Halleck sent Gen Grant and Admiral Foote into West Tennessee to take the two forts protecting Nashville; Fort Henry on the Tennessee River and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland. The decision to go into West Tennessee was part of the Union strategy to cut the Confederacy in half. Their main goal in this effort was control of the Mississippi River. Fort Henry was the easy part. Fort Donelson was a different matter, but after three days and an impressive escape by then Lt Col N B Forrest his cavalry battalion, the Confederate forces surrendered unconditionally, and about 13,000 Confederate soldiers were paroled and sent home. After the dust had settled there was a small group of about 200 enslaved Americans left behind. These 200 men represent the first link in a chain of events that would change Memphis forever. Over the next few videos we will address some questions posed by the presence of these 200 enslaved Americans.

Audition

#Juneteenthallyear

Everyone talks and writes about the need to teach History differently, but few of us do anything about it. Here, in the state of Tennessee, teachers are permitted to teach History as the school systems see fit, but there’s a caveat. If a student is uncomfortable with the curriculum, all they have to do is tell someone, and the State can defund the school or the entire school system. So, without actually outlawing the practice of teaching an honest history, the State has taken definite steps to keep it out of our schools.

(I wonder what would happen if a student reported his or her discomfort over the lack of discussions on race)

My question is this: Why does school have to be the only place where History is taught? The obvious answer is, it doesn’t, so I don’t teach it in school.

Here is a pre-test

Fill in the blanks:

__________ History

A. American

B. World

C. Ancient

D. Black

E. All of the above and then some

History of ________

A. Science

B. Mathematics

C. Economics

D. History

E. All of the above and then some

So, what should we teach? Should we teach what we’re told to teach, or should we teach what we’re told not to teach?

We should teach what we need to teach in order to foster a better understanding of here-we-are-now. Unfortunately, that’s what we’re warned not to teach.

Am I talking about Black History? American History? Reconstruction History? Confederate History? Southern History? Civil Rights History? Memphis History? The History of Racism? The History of Freedom?

All of the above and then some.

Juneteenth: An Honest History of Freedom In Memphis is my effort to educate Memphians and all Americans on the truth of what happened, and what is happening at the ever shifting lines between Black and White.

It is time for us, Memphians and all Americans (all of US) to own and embrace our past regardless of the emotional discomfort that will necessarily entail. Honest History will make us sad, it will frustrate us; we are going to be angry. The trick is to not get mad at each other. Anger is a motivational emotion; madness is a response we need to avoid.

As I understand Juneteenth, it should be a celebration of the deathblow the Emancipation Proclamation delivered to slavery as an institution. But beyond that, it should be a week long observance dedicated to reflection and conversation between and among the Black and White populations in order to define and redefine our definitions of Freedom, and to resolve to move forward.

So why #Juneteenthallyear?

Because reflection and conversation can only bear fruit if we share a common understanding of Juneteenth, beyond the paragraph Wikipedia must have stolen from hundreds, if not thousands, of High School essays.