@@inconnu4961 Shelby Foote was a remarkable historian with emphasis on the war of the rebellion. I have been called rebel for more times than I ever addressed anyone as yankee.
The nuts and bolts? Absolutely. But his analysis of the relative significance of slavery in the sectional schism leading up to the war? Unfortunately he grew up steeped in the lost cause and a white washed rationale.
As an African American (black person), I have a strong appreciation of history. I watched the series about the civil war. I remember the interviews with Shelby Foote. I love the way he presents information. Yes a lot of us don't want to be reminded of how we arrived in this country. How we were taken and had slavery forced upon us for generations. However, we have to remember history and never never ever forget. For me there is no way I can push away from it because it is constantly with me. I carry my ancestors in my very being.
There are people out there who really dont want us to know our history, so they can write into us what they wish us to be! The black people accomplished SO much after slavery, but we never get to hear about this! This is the real shame of it all in my eyes. That some black people think they never achieved anything until the Democrat party championed their cause, and nothing could be further from the truth!
As a Southern American (white person) I have a strong appreciation for history also. For me there is no way I can push away from it because it is constantly with me also. I carry MY ancestors in my very being also.
Very honorable. As a white southerner, I feel an odd mixture of pride and regret. Pride for the southern people who fought in the war, who mostly didn't give a damn about preserving slavery, fighting to defend their homes, and fulfill what they saw was their duty to be loyal to their home countries (their states). That said, the tip of the spear of all the enormous differences between the north and south was slavery. Slavery was and is the great and terrible sin of the United States. It ought never to have been. It was a hypocritical violation of the founding principles of this country. As a Catholic, I recognize full well that it is a gross violation of the dignity of man made in God's image, which goes without saying. For my pride in aspects of my heritage, I also feel the deep shame over the fact that my home state ultimately supported a cause that had at its core a wicked institution.
A treasure that is sorely missed! Probably the most brilliant historians on the civil war. Loved how he could bring Civil War profiles to life with his explanation of their actions and quotes.
You got that right. So sad there's no real reason for it either. This was recorded in '94. Things really started going downhill right after this IMHO. He probably had a good idea how bad it was going to be when he passed in 2005. We're in deep deep trouble now.
We have devolved so far that the man Shelby chose to be buried next to, Nathan Bedford Forrest, has been dug up and moved :( They should move Shelby as well and put him next to Forrest who was Shelby said was one of the two geniuses of the Civil War, the other being Abraham Lincoln. RIP Shelby Foote
History is only done right if it is in a constant state of revision. It’s not a negative thing, but in fact the only honest and responsible thing to do. Shelby Foote is a master, a savant, but comes from an ultimately outdated point of view-this interview proves it.
I am on the 577th page of his second volume on the Civil War, just after Gettysburg. He did a great service for readers who will complete those three volumes, all of about 2500 pages or so. I read slowly because I study the events, biographies, etc. It is the best introduction to that war, as I see it. Foote was a novelist who enjoyed greatly Proust, Faulkner, Shakespeare and Percy, and I can see definitely why Faulkner fits his taste. He wrote of Southern life realizing the effects of that war, all of which may never truly dissipate from the former Confederacy.
On this upcoming July 4, a reminder of one of our greats - Shelby Foote. I love his voice and just about everything about him. You can sense the incredible wisdom and goodness that he has.
A man who has cried many tears.and a man who represented the dead WITH SUCH HEART. thank you, dear Shelby, for your dedication to your pathway and your service to the presentation of history.my freind.blessing from the living and the dead. to you Shelby.
Certainly, not everyone agreed with Foote's analyses of the Civil War but one was always informed and often entertained. His modest but elegant approach to American History is sorely missed in our PC psycho-babble age of partisan political agendas.
@@propriusly He described himself as a "novelist-historian".He was not an academically trained historian as he dropped out of college. He was basically self taught. In his long career he wrote novels, poems, short stories and histories of the Civil War . He also workd as a newspaper reporter and most famously as one of the narrators of Ken Burns "Civil War" TV series.He was accepted as an eminent historian by his academically trained historian colleagues and won many grants, awards and fellowships as a historian. His obit in the NY Times referred to him as an American historian. In real life it is not what you are called its what you do that really matters..
@@Frank-mm2yp Shelby Foote had more accurate historical knowledge in his pinky finger than most the "accredited academics" did in their whole body. All of their knowledge of history comes off as existing within an echo chamber. They just regurgitate the same things all the time. Whereas Shelby seemed to have actual intimate knowledge of what he was speaking of. He was a true authentic.
No, they probably don't agree with Mr. Foote, but he was, after all.............RIGHT ON!!! Probably knew more about the War Between the States, than any other single man ..........or woman, living. He was absolutely brilliant. And, as far as I am concerned, I would and do, believe him much more than any other individual that ever thought they knew about that war.
@Rhodeccia Carter I love history,studied it both in school and on my own. I do understand your objection to the Confederate flag or any trinket of the Confederacy. However,there is another way to view the reason why many,such as I,want to preserve the monuments. I do believe the Confederate flag should be removed from any state flag though. There is a need to preserve history or else it can be forgotten and repeated. That old line "those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it" from George Santayan comes to mind. Also,consider that today's young people,especially college kids,are abusive, inconsiderate,bad tempered,bad manners,show lack of respect and are prone to violence for those of us who do not hold their professors political and religious views. Discussions,constructive criticism,varied opinions should not trigger hate and violence. I hear Civil War today? 50,000 16,17,18 year old men died at Gettysburg in 3 days of fighting where both sides fought for what they thought was right. 50,000 boys died in Vietnam in 8 years of war. That was history,did anyone learn from that? But I would think you'd be more angry about the slavery that continues to exist in Africa TODAY. War amongst the tribes still exists and prisoners taken become slaves. Ive seen few documentaries about this problem,why doesn't the news media investigate this and expose it?
@@JHatzadony - Better his well-informed, loving touch than the revisionist horseshit that he describes from this Illinois senator. I can remember seeing the same thing from my own youth; my father was from the South and when we visited his family in Alabama, the Segregation thing was still going on. We have to do better. Fortune passes everywhere.
This is a great comment. If we don't embrace history we will be stupid enough to repeat it. There are always villains and heroes, but when you turn the real heroes into villains the problems start. I wish people would stop trying to mess with history, just learn it. It is neither good nor bad, it just is. Many years ago I was travelling around North Carolina when I came across this monument in this town's Square. It read, "To Our Confederate Dead who gave their Lives in The War of Northern Agression." That is just how they refer to the war in the Southern States. I felt very humble when I saw this because it made me remember that all of the casualties in that war were Americans. I seem.to remember hearing a report that some years ago the U.S. Congress passed a resolution removing the word Confederate from all Civil War cemeteries where Southern soldiers rest. It was simply replaced with American Civil War Cemetery. Like I say, the brain does not always get into gear, but I am sure I ran into this information somewhere. I say it is about time. I think all people need to study the Civil War, it's causes, results and everything along the way, especially how it affected our country for years to come. This must be done considering we are close to the verge of doing it again.
A farmer from Virginia defending his home gets a minie ball through his heart. A factory worker from Massachusetts preserving the Union gets decapitated by a load of grape. A runaway slave from Mississippi trying to find freedom gets captured and executed. Three mothers mourning the loss of their children. All three lives lost for what they believed in. All three lives valuable, equal and worthy of remembrance. You can't honor one and neglect the others. The tragedy was multifaceted.
Billy Mule oh BS- farmers from VA weren’t defending their homes. That’s a crock of lost cause BS. They were defending slavery. There is no moral equivalence.
@@ikant312 Wrong. The elite plantation owners were the ones who were defending slavery. Not the poor white farmer. Those people were simply defending their homes and property from an invasion by the North. You're making a revisionist historian error that is quite common: that is, judging the Civil War using 21st century standards. You can't do that and remain fair. Look, it is very likely everyone in both the South and the North had what we would consider by today's standards as very racist attitudes when it comes to black people. But the Civil War did not start because of slavery. The Civil War happened because of secession, of which slavery was one of several primary causes, but clearly not the only cause. The Southern states believed every state in the Union had the right to self-determination. They believed that included their right to choose unilaterally to either remain in the Union or leave it. Lincoln understood that permitting such a thing would be the end of the United States. He could not permit it. Secession, therefore, made war inevitable. The Civil War was really a struggle over the the limits of self-determination of the states.
Great Vocal Majority again, you are just repeating lost cause nonsense. It’s not the 1920s when people didn’t readily have access to the documents we have today. The south fought to maintain and spread slavery- its well documented. You can’t spin reality to what you want it to be.
Most Southerners were fighting for the same reason German soldiers were- they had been lied to by experts in the art. It doesn't mean there weren't brave Southerners or brave Germans.
He was pretty vocal about the state of politics all throughout his career, he agreed with Robert E Lee to never display the battle flag again except in a museum.
@ekimshield It's the Democratic Party, you dolt, not the "Democrat Party." You come across as an idiot when you use intentionally provocative phrases like this.
Love this man has a Irishman could listen to him all day would have liked to know his opinion of the Irish civil war and the long struggle against the British Empire
The problem is that he’s talking about a compromise made between white northerners and white southerners. It was never a compromise Black Americans, neither North or South had any input in. You kept people enslaved for centuries, fought a war to maintain it, and then spent the next 100 years actively terrorizing the newly freed people. It was not just a war fought between 1861-1865 among white folks who were varying degrees of racist both then and now. It was a project of dehumanization that goes back 300 years and can only be declared over a mere 50 years ago at best. It arguably still isn’t over.
That’s a junk pseudo intellectual argument. Here are a few problems with it: 1. The war was between whites. Therefore, the compromise was between whites. 2. You wrote, “you kept people enslaved for centuries.” Absurd. That’s a racist attack and an ignorant one at that, since neither me not anyone here enslaved anyone ever, much less for centuries. So, your attack is a blind one against people you assume are white. Pure idiocy. 3. Your assumption that slavery was a project of domination only perpetrated by Europeans against Africans is historically illiterate. Slavery was and continues to be nearly ubiquitous. For example, slavery existed in Africa at the time blacks were brought to the Western Hemisphere. In fact, slavery has existed everywhere in the world, in every culture throughout human history. Native Americans enslaved other native Americans. According to the Walk Free Foundation, there are at least 45 million slaves in the world today. In fact, slavery still exists in those African countries that were the source of slaves in the Americas. As a matter of fact, the only places in the world where slavery has been eradicated are the nations of Western Europe, the U.K., the United States, Canada and Australia. Slavery in some form exists everywhere else. Moreover, while the conditions for blacks in the US has been trending in a positive direction since the end of the 2nd World War, that improvement makes the US the best place in the world for blacks to live. Certainly better than those African countries their ancestors came from where slavery still exists.
Today, Shelby would be appalled to watch the Robert E Lee statue removed by the governor and other monuments, being torn down by a mob, and the great compromise torn up in sheds.
As a child studying the Civil War (in NYC) I completely despised the Confederates for the the division and death they brought to this country. As a adult, I think differently about the Confederacy and I respect for what they believe in and fought for. We should all embrace this history and learn to compromise.
DCEU Fan I have no respect for chattel slavery- so I disagree . Just as I have no respect for the people who followed the fight for slavery up with 100 years of Jim Crow.
Southerners despise the union for coming down here and burning everything. I dont support either side and would not have fought for the confederacy, but i REALLY have a problem with the union attacking to regain some tax dollars
@@fuckcensorship69 If Confederates did not come up North and burned everything was not because of lack of trying. Do not confuse the fortunes of war with ethical superiority. Remember, when the Confederacy invaded Pennsylvania they kinapped Pennyslvania citizens who were black and took them to slave markets. We Pennsylvanians remember the Gallant Southerners.
A Great American Historian, agree with him whole heartedly! We shouldn't be ashamed of our past, right or wrong. But learn from it, Black, White, American Indian, or Hispanic. We are all Americans, and should be proud!!!
It's always "Slavery was bad but the South fought for a noble cause, blah blah blah." The truth is, I have ancestors among the first Dutch settlers in America, and the first slaves brought to America arrived on a Dutch ship. I do not hesitate to condemn what they did. I disavow slavery and any excuses for it. It also seems to be forgotten that many in the South remained loyal to the United States. Over 100,000 Southern unionists served in the U.S. Army during the Civil War, and every Southern state except South Carolina raised at least a battalion. The rebellion in the South was far from unanimous.
The last thing we need is another Shelby Foote. We've got more than enough racist white supremacists desperately clinging to their Lost Cause narratives of the Civil War. Ah, the heady scent of rotting magnolias...
Such wise advice by explaining the Great Compromise and his regret that blacks have turned away from their own history. As Faulkner says of Dilsey [representing all courageous blacks in "The Sound and the Fury"] endured just as the Jews endured. Let the statues and stories of such heroic survival remain that important part of a people's willingness to endure and prevail.
Shelby Foote, and his voice, he is entrainment, he is not an historian. He is the sleepy voice of a long ago sleepy south who prospered not on intellect or innovation but prospered in the enslavement of millions of Africans stolen from their country, in chains brought to the South to build their plantations, roads, bridges, homes, historical places and most of all the buildings of Washington DC. That is the true historical south, and a lot of early America, built upon the back of slaves, Africans, who have a right now to ask that why do they not own the South they built without wage compensation and why do they not have the right to inter as in enslave the southern dependents, the southern white folks today, like Shelby Foote, for the next 100 or so years so they might experience the same as the African captives and see how they feel about the second "great compromise."! Shelby Foote has what Sean Connery had, a "voice" and that is all he had. In this titled "Brilliant insights from the late Shelby Foote" he nots his own dismay over why the Black African Americans, dependents of slaves, cannot support their own enslaved history like the Jewish people do of the holocaust with museum and monuments? Well if that is the case then we must began with trails of the Southern slaves owners, long gone but in absentia, and then demand and get reparations for Africans Americans, as did the Jewish people of Israeli did from the German nations.
Shelby would be absolutely despised today just because he uses terms like "the blacks". They wouldn't care about the fact that he was a brilliant man. He's the only person I've ever heard that has such authentic knowledge of the Civil War that listening to him talk about it is like listening to a person talk about it that was actually there and he doesn't just get bogged down talking about slavery or abolition. Shelby was awesome.
Brian Lamb speaking: how do you write do you write with a pencil do you write with a crayon, do you write with a felt marker, you write on paper, do you write on cardboard, do you write on butcher paper, or do you use a typewriter or do use a computer, just how do you do it just tell us so we'll know
The Holocaust Museum is a far cry from a Disney theme park attraction based on an idealized Antebellum Deep South. There is a reason Nazi symbols are illegal in Germany for public display outside of museums and historical research. There is no "brilliant insight" in supporting the equivalent of a minstrel show without blackface. If I was black, that would also piss me off. Like Foote, I'm from Mississippi, but that Disney slavery experience was a bad idea. Shelby Foote was perceptive historian, but he was wrong about glorifying the southern Lost Cause premise.
Where he talk of how the old enmities from the Civil War had finally faded by the time he wrote his book, in a way that they hadn't when he was a grade school boy, I wonder how much of that was a direct result of World War Two. People today forget that pre-WWII, when there were no interstate highways and air travel was pretty much restricted to the wealthy, that people were a lot less mobile. It was far more common to live your whole life in or near the town where you were born. But the war moved people around. People joined the armed forces and got billeted with other people from all over the country, giving them a chance to get to know, and form strong bonds of friendship with people from other regions of the US (especially people who went into combat together). And even on the homefront, a lot of people traveled to different cities to take jobs in vital war industries -- my own maternal grandfather among them. I think that sudden mobility of the population and the way it brought people of North and South back together probably had a lot to do with breaking those old hatreds down. And on a different note -- what a crying shame that that old, aristocratic southern accent of his seems to be dying out. I could listen to this man read the phone book.
You're right, the WWII effort ended a lot of the old grudges. The south was a very insular region until the late 20th century but as its modernized the accents are becoming washed out. Im from NC and nowadays only people from the country have a southern accent.
@@TheMallen07 the grudges are still there. I have been called a Yankee for decades in south Carolina. I own businesses that employ over 300 people and I get called a carpetbagger. Well I am done. Selling out to a major corporation and they are going to sell off everything. Bye bye to all the jobs I created and bye bye S.Carolina. Never to return.
@@FYMASMD its kind of funny, my boss is from NY and lives on Columbia SC. Ive never called him a Yankee nor would I, but he openly refers to himself as one. He wears it as a badge of honor. But to your point, the old saying "theres still some rebels in the south" holds true. NC has its fare share. I wouldnt let their remarks get to you.
@@TheMallen07 Back in the 1980s i was friends with a kid from georgia, who knew the Civil war like the back of his hand he was 11 when i met him, and was the stereotypical Johhny Reb. So it was certainly alive and well in pockets. Boyscout troops would come back from jamborees and tell stories about southerners calling them dam yankees. i was certainly a thing in the 1980s, those old divides.
One thing I find utterly disheartening is how ignorant of history some of the comments here have been. What’s worse, is how ignorant of the present those same commenters are. I’d like to point out a handful of historical facts to put the issue of American slavery in its proper context, because God only knows with the fraudulent history of the 1619 Project making the rounds, it’s sorely needed. First, outside of the Western European powers and the United States, beginning in the early 18th Century was the issue of chattel slavery challenged on moral or religious grounds. Everywhere else in the world then and sadly, many places in the world today, slavery still thrives. So, before condemning its practice in the United States, that fact needs to be recognized. Second, according to the Walk Free Foundation, there are 9.2 million slaves in Africa TODAY. Many in the very same countries were Africans were sold to westerners. It’s a fact. Look it up. In fact, the only nations which have all but eliminated slavery are Western Europe, Great Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. That’s it. Slavery in one form or another exists to a significant degree practically everywhere else in the world right now. That’s a fact, too. Most slaves brought to the New World were already slaves being held by rival tribesmen in Africa. Most slaves brought to the New World ended up in Brazil, Jamaica and other parts of Central and South America. “Only” 388,000 were brought to areas that later became the United States. In one of the original drafts of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson decried King George III’s imposition of slavery on several of the colonies, noting its immorality. South Carolina refused to support the Declaration, so that section denouncing slavery was scrapped. It is also true that just prior to the Civil War, there were 250,000 free blacks in the Confederacy. Contrary to popular belief, not all blacks were slaves in the South. Of that 250,000, 4,000 free blacks held slaves themselves. Contrary to revisionist historical propaganda most of those held as slaves by the free blacks were not “purchased” family members. Only a tiny fraction were. It is also true that Native American Indian tribes held a significant number of black slaves. The Cherokee, Choctaw, Cree, Chicasaw and Seminoles all held THOUSANDS of black slaves. In New Orleans, an astonishing 28% of the free blacks living there held their own black slaves and even issued a statement of public support for both the Confederacy and the institution of slavery itself. My point is simply this: it is far too easy to slam the history of slavery in the United States by ignoring the fullest context in which it occurred. Particularly offensive, is the absurd practice of judging slavery 150 years ago by today’s standards of morality. A revisionist practice called “modernism.” Because, unless we are in the business of imminentizing the Eschaton certain abhorrent practices we take for granted today, may be judged similarly a century and a half from now. Abortion, for example. Would that be fairly judging that common, largely accepted, but thoroughly abhorrent practice? It’s juxtaposition with slavery is rather appropriate here. Slavery was horrible. But it has existed everywhere and is not peculiar to any one country, race or people. And it still exists. Still, it’s odd to me to read all the virtue bloviation, yet not a hint of a word about the slavery that exists right now. Finally, if Americans who are black were their own country, they would be the 15th wealthiest country in the world. Rather than dwelling on the past, may I suggest dwelling on that?
It is a sad perpetuating legacy of man that slavery and subjugation have existed throughout history. The strong have always victimized the weak and rationalize this satanic practice as if it was their divine right. We have come so far with still so far to go. The racial divide in this country is a gap that never should have existed at all. There surely must be a special corner in hell for all those who practiced and condoned this racist dogma.
I'd very much like to get sources for the 388,000 slaves brought to the U.S. as well as the 250,000 free slaves in the south. There is so much in your comment that is new, but not terribly surprising, to me.
@@nwk3 Dr. Henry Louis Gates is the source of the 388,000 number. He is probably the nation's leading exper on this topic. If you google him, you might find his website where he quotes that number. His is an outstanding researcher. It is estimated that 12 million Africans were sold into slavery to Europeans by tribal chieftains who were holding slaves captured from rival tribes. Of the 12 million sold, only 10 million survived the voyage. Many died along the way from illness and disease and a number were simply murdered by being dumped in the ocean. The cruelty was almost unimaginable. The other numbers you asked about, that is, 250,000 were not freed slaves, but free blacks. Not all blacks were slaves. In fact, there were thousands of black slaveholders. It's important to know this because it highlights the fact that slavery wasn't merely animated by racial supremacist thinking. It was also economic exploitation. But modern politics being what it is, chooses to ignore the fact that there were thousands of free blacks and several thousand black slaveholders. The source of that information was information I heard from an historian on the Larry Elder radio program. Larry Elder is a black conservative from Los Angeles. He's not an apologist for slavery, but he is an advocate for people knowing the WHOLE TRUTH.
Wow, I've just spent way too much time reading comments on here. I will say, there are a lot of intelligent comments on both sides. I don't really have a hard stance either way. I believe the scars of slavery are clearly still evident today. It's the great shame of America. I'm not sure though we can completely wrap our minds around the complexity of society in 1860. The argument that the war was over state's rights is wrong, as is oversimplifying it and saying it was purely about slavery. The reason there is still much racial tention isn't completely because of slavery. It is because our post war government continued to fail and oppress blacks. I am white so, I cannot understand the struggles blacks have had and continue to face today. But, I am willing to listen and try to understand. The comments on here reflect our modern society. No one listens to people with a differing opinion anymore. No one is 100% right all the time and no one is 100% wrong all the time. I worry for the state of this country if we cannot work together for the common good. Respect for one another seems to be a a thing of the past.
Precisely, it has been a very long time since I've heard someone put out there, what you just did. NO one, listens anymore, they have their minds made up, and there is no changing it, there is NO compromise with anything, which is one reason why the race divide still exists today. The blacks want to hide this part of history, simply because it 'offends' them. Wow, imagine that, it 'offends' them! They want to simply rub their part in the history of our country, out of sight! Pretend it didn't happen, and want no one, or no thing, to remind them of it. As Mr Foote said, look at the Jewish people, they put it out front, right were people can see and feel it, so that the future generations can benefit, from the lessons learned from the past. What is it:......Those who do not learn from history, are doomed to repeat it'. Well, just look around, are we seeing the seeds of another 'War between the states' again??? All they want to do is, eradicate all signs of the 'War between the States'. People forget, it was a different time, a different era, and the thinking was so totally different, than those of today. We really cannot fathom what it was like, but we cannot put OUR way of thinking and interject it into the minds of those living 150 years ago. Was it right?, No, but we didn't take part in it, we had no part in it's inception, and will we have a part in it's completion?, who knows, because it's still a canker on humanity, and with people being human, it means that our society nor any society, will ever be 'perfect', but we can make it so it doesn't consume our souls or our lives. Will the races ever live together in harmony? That is a question that is yet to answered, for if you look at today's headlines, it still hasn't, and may never. It all depends on whether they will find common ground..........together. For ANYTHING, to become better than what it is today, it will take BOTH sides, to find that common ground. If it is not found, then you can only blame humanity as a whole, not just one side, for it take TWO sides to make a war.
Black Americans should be proud of their ancestors. Even Americans who were not of slave ancestry celebrated them and their perseverence. No single person was "to blame" for the evolution of slavery in the Americas either, both indegenous slavery and African slavery, at least no named person. It was an uncivilized response to severe shortage of labor. No one celebrated it or morally upheld it (FOR THE MOST PART) although a few tried.
The United States declared independence based on "All men were created equal" No one blames the Russians for living according to their states' standards. But the US pretenede to be better more moral than the Old Country nations under kings. Either live up to your stated standards or shut up about your higher moral values. You are no better than the czar of Russia.
It's like another issue. The most physically accessible country for wheelchairs on earth, was South Africa, this effort took place at the height of apartheid in 1963! As a chair user, I am pleased about that it doesn't mean I am in favor of racial separation and hatred. History is not a sci fi movie, with noble perfect souls over here, and Nazi monsters over there. The interweaving of reality, is painful, and wonderful and it takes a wise heart to be aware of that.
I have a first edition of Mr. Foote's trilogy. It is a remarkable work and was a gift from my late wife. It is eminently readable but Foote practically bends over backwards to avoid mentioning slavery as an issue, although he does give some good words about the fighting ability of USCT soldiers in some actions.
What the late Foote and others don't quite grasp is that there is a difference between remembering history and celebrating history. No one can (or should) object to remembering history but celebrating treasonous behavior and celebrating a culture that was willing to die to support the enslavement of another human being is objectionable on many counts.
Manuel Tijerina You forget that the Civil War was fought for states rights, not for slavery. The emancipation of the slaves was the result of the war, not the cause.
@@robichard The State's rights to own slaves. By the way do you know what happened in the territory of Kansas when the issue of having or not having slavery came down to the people's choice? Hint: "Bloody Kansas" does not sound very much like the State's Rights of Kansas were being respected.
As an African I don't want Disney telling my story. I don't want whites and Jews telling my story, and softening the brutality. Also, I don't want to hear the N word...ad nauseum. I've seen tens of Jewish holocaust movies, two used the K word.
I understand you don’t want to hear the N word, but there is an entire genre of black music today that enriches itself through its use. I assume you don’t thin that’s ok. How do you propose stopping it?
Dave Wilson I could listen to him talk forever. I search RUclips just to hear him speak. The fact that he’s so brilliant only makes him more fantastic. I hate that he’s gone.
As a youngster, I was brainwashed by the government run public school system that union victory was a good thing. As an adult with life experience, I witness the rise of oppressive centralized government and wonder if it would not have been better if the South had won. After all, they exercised their Constitutional right to succeed when the central government became tyrannical against them (through the imposition of unfair tariffs on Southern cotton). Remember, Americans declared independence from Britain for a similar transgression.
There is no constitutional right to secede. The founding fathers seceded from a state with no written constitution and so set about writing one that embodied the values underlying the state from which they were withdrawing. What would have happened had the confederacy not suffered defeat? A good question I have often asked my self. The survival of a modern trading nation with people being owned as property is obviously unthinkable. The would have been rejected even by the British who needed their cotton. Cotton growing would have expanded in other countries while the confederate states grappled with how to reform themselves without compulsion from the Union.
"Oppressive central government"? Has the Central Government ever whipped you for not fulfilling your quota? Has it ever taken your children from your arms and sold them? If you are a woman, has the Government told you that it is your duty to be raped by whoever wants it? Find out what life was for slaves and THEN talk about oppression.
@@moreme40 yeah, It aint never gonna be rigged in the favor of people who have to see anothers ethnic bigotry just by waking up in the morning and seeing that bigotry directed at them. You lost a position cause of affirmative action? sounds more like you dont wanna be accused for something you didnt have a part in, there we are in agreement but, if you look at people with bigotry then you do have a part
@@adrianainespena5654 Well, I think every point of view is valid to whosoever puts them forward. The whole subject of racism boils down to the fact that humans possess tribal identities. No-one is going to change that on more than a pretty superficial level.
@@petehall889 Now if only those who complain that their history is being lost would also welcome the 1619 project I would take them seriously. But if it is not "let us know the past and learn from it... mainly what not to do if we want to avoid trouble" but instead "let us cling to our comfortable ideas" then they REALLY need a swift kick in the butt by Reality
This smacks of the “Lost Cause” mythology. He wanted blacks to celebrate slavery- what? It is people like Mr. Foote who were running from the real history of slavery because I guarantee you he was not interested in blacks talking about the true horrors of chattel slavery in the antebellum south that lasted for over 200 years. So, I don’t get the Holocaust comparison because the Jewish community does not try to sanitize or downplay the horrors of the Holocaust.
mo-first off foote himself opposed the disney project(for different reasons)........but dont you think it should have dawned on him that black folks were worried that disney was gonna "disneyfy" the slave experience rather than portray it realistically
@@georgegaros1760 Indeed, and they would not have any control. There was of course Roots and The Book of Negroes among others that dramatize it. I think that another issue with the US slavery is that after the terrible war, to rejoin the Union, the States had to ratify the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments. However, until the 1960's the supreme court of the US, in effect refused to enforce these statutes (arguably, the first case being Brown v. BoE in 1954). I find this unforgivable and a politicization of the Court on an unprecedented scale. The law and amendments were clear, they just did not enforce them for no legally valid reason I can think of. Such behaviour empowered the southern states to enact Jim Crow laws knowing they would not be overturned. So, in effect while slavery was finished in its truest form, the restrictions on African-Americans were only slightly less onerous, especially in the 1890's and 1930's, leading to the great northern migrations of those years. So ... as such, the wounds of Slavery are combined with the wounds of the subjugation of the 100 years thereafter and that is, I suspect, for many just too long and too fresh to want to watch on film. For me, I could see it reinforcing the systemic problems that still exist today; pretty depressing. I think interest in these roots will eventually come on a broader basis, but that may have to wait a while until society has become more inclusive and fair and African-Americans as a large group can truly feel pride of place in America. Only then they will have 'overcome' as Mr. Foote suggests is the case for Jewish people. Perhaps, but my argument, in sum, is that the economic circumstances for Jewish people in America since WW2 is quite a contrast to that of African-Americans in the 100 years since the Civil War and that was even with 3 yes THREE constitutional amendments to protect them, a protection Jewish people never had. I think his comparison is insensitive to the continuing issues that African Americans face in America. Yes, all of that is a long time ago, but the dinner table is a hell of a pulpit and be it the spreading of intolerance or the perpetuation of resentment the echoes are very much alive.
That there was The Main Man. I miss him greatly. He know his history now and not 1 sided he tell you both sides story in a Fair & honest way. Anybody try call him racist like today they try pin that on everybody some people don't agree with. Well they don't know what they talking about. They need spend more time in the history books & less time on TV trying this self promoting themselves & there stupid ideas. Lot there talk I can't find in any history books I think they make up 95% there BS.
Its not over by any means, the a South is still upset that they lost, and the North still resents that they have to keep sending money to prop up all the Southern states. The top ten poorest states in the country are all Southern states.
alwaysmylove that’s because after the civil war the South incurred war debt payed by taxes on goods. Debt that wasn’t paid off until the 1950’s in some states. In the 40’s it cost more to ship a piece of steel from Birmingham to Montgomery than it did to ship the same piece of steel from Pittsburgh to Montgomery.
@SJ Greer Becuase we take care of our poor. Not like you Deplorable states who couldnt give a shit about them. Besides, how could you take care of them anyway, YOU HAVE NO MONEY TO TAKE CARE OF THEM, Youre poor! Any money that you do have, New York sends to you. And Im sick of it. Thanks for all your help during this pandemic.
@SJ Greer Wowwww and youre a fucking racist to. "Arent even Americans" Thats what you said. Anyone who says something like that is subhuman. I will have to show that quote to my spouse. You are disgusting. They are human beings you jackass. Fuck you! Get the fuck off this planet.
@@johnjerman3421 What??? You say that the South won??? That it was actually Grant who surrendered at Appomatox? (actually seeing how both Lee and Grant were dressed people would think that). As to what it stood for, didn't the Confederacy say in its documents that it fought to keep blacks in bondage? Yeah, when they were defeated they changed their tune - but when they thought they would prevail and did not need to measure their words.
Shelby Foote was my favourite part of the Ken Burns documentary. A great storyteller and he put that Southern perspective in clear display. That's one of the great things about Burns' work - it relies so heavily on PRIMARY sources. But Foote is truly out of touch here. His talk of "compromise" is a lie. The issue is that the figures of the Confederacy aren't just remembered through History, but celebrated and venerated. People aren't getting the actual History ............. that the Confederacy sought to leave the Union over the right to own Slaves. They talk about States Rights and Northern aggression but that's just bullshit. Any attempt to romanticize that period is just another whitewash of historical fact.
Well said. "Northern aggression" is total bs. The South began seceding one by one after the 1860 election results. Buchanan was still president when this was happening and even he couldn't prevent rebellion. The South wasn't going to compromise at all.
Its NOT a white wash, and the fact that you can suggest that everything that happened revolved around 1 single issue suggests you probably arent well-versed in history NOR economics! Change the name 'slavery' to "big oil' big pharma', 'military-industrial' complex or whichever of your favorite exploitative economic driver and it would fit quite well ( obviously the chattel part doesnt make it apples to apples comparison, but it was the economics of the thing that sustained it. Racial hatred was only there to justify that means to an end, it wasnt really based on racial hatred)
Ironically, the War is hot again. Robert E. Lee was largely a character who received scant attention Thirty years ago but today anti-Lee passion is back where it was in 1865. We might have had the great compromise and the healing of such wounds fifty years ago but it seems these woulds have burst asunder and bleed anew. When one sees Union monuments destroyed one thinks many people don't want to think about the Civil War, discuss the Civil War, be reminded of the Civil War and even have any thoughts that Americans have in the past killed each other and we are edging closer to such divisions not seen in most peoples living memories now. If people do not heed Shelby Foote's wise insights we are headed in a direction of constructing fairy tales and half truths which in the end will leave us all less wise, more ignorant, and more dull of mind.
Apparently Shelby does not understand the 100+ years of terrorism and violence perpetrated on ex-slaves by the ex-Confederates, or that the fight is STILL being fought with voter suppression, economic disadvantages, covert segregation, and racially-biased policing. Shelby studies the past. He should turn his eyes to the present.
Or, you could say the racism perpetrated on former slaves continues in the form of government dependency. Jefferson said, “Dependency breeds subservience and venality; suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition.”
@@Greatvocalmajority4America However, those people who DO get government support tend to do so for a shorter time, and end up contributing more to the economy than if they had NOT received support. By cutting support, you drive MORE people into DEEPER poverty for LONGER periods of time with WORSE outcomes. But, hey, why let facts get in the way of a good screed? For the US, the issue is that racism has created pockets of people who have underfunded schools, do not have jobs near them, and they cannot afford to GET to the jobs, so, there is a skills gap. Also, people applying to those jobs using their actual names are more likely to get screened out if they have an ethnic sounding (aka "African-American" sounding) name.
@@chrisrautmann8936 Your reply is. stereotypical and simplistic. You see people as groups not as individuals. Your comment about names is indefensible and unprovable. But as you stated " Hey, why let facts get in front of a good screed."
@@edmonddantes3640 Statistics actually do have a bearing on how public policy should work. No, you cannot save EVERYONE, but you you should not condemn EVERYONE because a FEW people are NOT helped.
Slavery was wrong indeed. Obviously, but the quote from Southern General LongStreet (played by Tom Berenger) in the movie Gettysburg "We should have freed the slaves first and then declared war on the North" ....seems to be very telling. Lincoln even said before that thing started that he would have kept slavery to avoid a war. The South saw "other" things to come, and they just might have been right about those other things. That being said, I doubt things would have ended up much different than they are now. Money and power corrupts.
If every person alive today was living during the Civil War period, 90% of them would have been considered a racist by today’s standard. But, what we get is most people today saying that they could have never held these views 160 years ago.
I deeply appreciate Mr. Foote, yet I have to point out a failing. We all have failings and Mr. Foote is just human after all. He wishes blacks would embrace the heritage of slavery as Jew’s acknowledge and pursue their history. For such an intelligent man, that is not an intelligent question. Jews in Eastern Europe were free, productive members of society and in a few years they were slaughtered. Blacks lived as slaves or living in some form of apartheid in this country from 1619 until the 1970’s. Before professing disappointment at the “historical take” of those who don’t need reminding, Shelby should take a moment and reconsider “why”.
Jews were plagued by regular pogroms in different parts of Europe. So it is not like this was entirely out of the blue for the jews. Spanish Inquisition was formed to convert, to remove or kill the jews before it morphed into what it became. You missed the part where Shelby likened the Black slaves to jewish slaves in egypt from the Exodus story. As highly religious as black people used to be, one might think this would resonate with black people.
RIP, Dr. Foote... Not to be argumentative, but it's hardly over today. I was raised in SE MO, and have lived all over the US and abroad during my life. I moved to AR to settle in for my remaining years, and it has been an unremitting blast of hateful ignorance from the locals since then; anyone born 50 miles north of here is automatically classed as a 'Yankee'...
Before President Lincoln was assassinated, His desire was to rehabilitate those who fought for the Confederacy. You have to remember, the Confederacy didn’t want a war. They preferred to leave the Union in peace, but both sides knew a war was inevitable because the union had military forts all over the South and they didn’t recognize the Confederacy as legit. The months prior to the attack on Fort Sumter was marked by Lincoln and Davis jockeying for position to have the other take the first shot. The South fired on Sumter in a battle where nobody was killed. Lincoln then used that to declare rebellion. Lincoln wanted war. Not the Confederacy. Without war, Lincoln could not reunite the Union and he might lose other states to secession. The first two years of the Civil War were not about slavery. That became the cause after the Emancipation Proclamation and the passage of the 13th Amendment. Lincoln knew, however, that the South believed each state had an inherent right to self-determination. Lincoln believed once a state becomes part of the Union, they cannot leave it unilaterally because that would create instability and chaos. Those are the things Mr. Foote is referencing. The south’s “cause” wasn’t slavery. It’s cause was whether they were free to leave the Union should they so choose. A cause for which they fought bravely, however misguided it was for more reasons than the moral blight of the institution of slavery.
@@cruisinusa5110 that is not true. Unilateral secession was the proximate cause of the Civil War. There is nothing twisted about that fact. Had the South been able to negotiate a secession, rather than to consider it their self-determinative right to leave the Union, there would have been no war and slavery would have continued through a Confederacy of Southern states without any war. The continuance and expansion of slavery was one of the primary causes of secession, but it was not a proximate cause of the war. You are forgetting the fact that it was Lincoln who provoked the South into firing the first shot, in order to justify declaring them in rebellion. Moreover, when war broke out, nobody in the North believed they were going to war to end slavery. Most of the Northerners were every bit as racist as the Southern slaveholders toward the black race. It wasn't until 1863 with the war largely stalemated and bloody as hell that Lincoln rallied the Union to the cause of ending Slavery. Lincoln's primary motivation for going to war against the Confederacy was to re-establish the Union. Ending slavery was considered too ambitious. Think about it. Had Lincoln not declared the South to be in rebellion after the attack on Fort Sumter, the so called "border states" would have been inclined to leave the Union, too. Lincoln could not permit unilateral secession. Northerners referred to the Confederates as "secessionists." Another fact that you're forgetting is that two slave states were on the Union side! Maryland and Delaware were both state where slavery continued to be practiced. All of this to say, the Civil War was a struggle that was a lot more complex than a simple battle to end slavery. It's a gross oversimplification to put it in those terms. That's what makes studying it so fascinating and that's why Shelby Foote's writings on it are so fantastically insightful.
@@Greatvocalmajority4America _"...the union had military forts all over the South..."_ This is incorrect. In fact, the _Federal government_ had military installations in the Southern region of the United States. Your wording pre-supposes the legitimacy of the Confederacy, which, as the Civil War definitively established, was not a legal entity.
@@ikant312 You need to be aware of something. If the North could have benefited from slavery as much as the South did, then there would have been slavery in the North. Trust me on this.
I think it’s because we don’t like our position in society we don’t feel treated well or of the appropriate status and reception. It’s like a former prostitute talking about all that trauma when she’s only just left the brothel and is barefoot, ragged and homeless, not got a job got cleaned up and married etc etc It’s too shameful, because you’re still suffering and in a degrading position.
@Stephen Carter Wow....the only put-down of Shelby Foote, I have ever seen in print. World-class author and historian-hero. You truly can't please some people. You probably don't speak well of Shakespeare, either.
I could listen to him all day. He knew history.
The south seems to be obsessed with it's confederate past up until very recent times!
@@inconnu4961 Shelby Foote was a remarkable historian with emphasis on the war of the rebellion. I have been called rebel for more times than I ever addressed anyone as yankee.
The nuts and bolts? Absolutely. But his analysis of the relative significance of slavery in the sectional schism leading up to the war? Unfortunately he grew up steeped in the lost cause and a white washed rationale.
Professor Foote was a major American scholar. He will be greatly missed. RIP Sir.
As an African American (black person), I have a strong appreciation of history. I watched the series about the civil war. I remember the interviews with Shelby Foote. I love the way he presents information.
Yes a lot of us don't want to be reminded of how we arrived in this country. How we were taken and had slavery forced upon us for generations. However, we have to remember history and never never ever forget. For me there is no way I can push away from it because it is constantly with me. I carry my ancestors in my very being.
There are people out there who really dont want us to know our history, so they can write into us what they wish us to be! The black people accomplished SO much after slavery, but we never get to hear about this! This is the real shame of it all in my eyes. That some black people think they never achieved anything until the Democrat party championed their cause, and nothing could be further from the truth!
As a Southern American (white person) I have a strong appreciation for history also. For me there is no way I can push away from it because it is constantly with me also. I carry MY ancestors in my very being also.
Very honorable. As a white southerner, I feel an odd mixture of pride and regret. Pride for the southern people who fought in the war, who mostly didn't give a damn about preserving slavery, fighting to defend their homes, and fulfill what they saw was their duty to be loyal to their home countries (their states). That said, the tip of the spear of all the enormous differences between the north and south was slavery. Slavery was and is the great and terrible sin of the United States. It ought never to have been. It was a hypocritical violation of the founding principles of this country. As a Catholic, I recognize full well that it is a gross violation of the dignity of man made in God's image, which goes without saying. For my pride in aspects of my heritage, I also feel the deep shame over the fact that my home state ultimately supported a cause that had at its core a wicked institution.
Shelby Foote could read the ingredients off the back of a mayonnaise jar and it would sound good.
So true! He made Ken Burns documentary twice as good with his commentary!
Same here! I wrote upthread that he had a beautiful voice and I loved his accent!
Exactly- I love his voice!
Dukes our course
awl, aygs, lemns, whip it all up
A treasure that is sorely missed! Probably the most brilliant historians on the civil war. Loved how he could bring Civil War profiles to life with his explanation of their actions and quotes.
He was truly one of a kind.
Courage too. We could use his courage in our national discourse. Nobody was going to tell Shelby Foote he couldn't broach a subject.
Boy would he ever be disappointed to see where we have devolved to now on this matter.
The statue does not fight back.
@@minnowpd It's difficult to address or change current issues of today. It's easy to fight marble statues of yesteryear.
You got that right. So sad there's no real reason for it either. This was recorded in '94. Things really started going downhill right after this IMHO. He probably had a good idea how bad it was going to be when he passed in 2005. We're in deep deep trouble now.
We have devolved so far that the man Shelby chose to be buried next to, Nathan Bedford Forrest, has been dug up and moved :( They should move Shelby as well and put him next to Forrest who was Shelby said was one of the two geniuses of the Civil War, the other being Abraham Lincoln. RIP Shelby Foote
History is only done right if it is in a constant state of revision. It’s not a negative thing, but in fact the only honest and responsible thing to do. Shelby Foote is a master, a savant, but comes from an ultimately outdated point of view-this interview proves it.
My all-time favorite historian rest in peace Southern gentleman
I am on the 577th page of his second volume on the Civil War, just after Gettysburg. He did a great service for readers who will complete those three volumes, all of about 2500 pages or so. I read slowly because I study the events, biographies, etc. It is the best introduction to that war, as I see it. Foote was a novelist who enjoyed greatly Proust, Faulkner, Shakespeare and Percy, and I can see definitely why Faulkner fits his taste. He wrote of Southern life realizing the effects of that war, all of which may never truly dissipate from the former Confederacy.
I'm just near the end of the first Volume. fascinating.
On this upcoming July 4, a reminder of one of our greats - Shelby Foote. I love his voice and just about everything about him. You can sense the incredible wisdom and goodness that he has.
A man who has cried many tears.and a man who represented the dead WITH SUCH HEART. thank you, dear Shelby, for your dedication to your pathway and your service to the presentation of history.my freind.blessing from the living and the dead. to you Shelby.
I was fortunate to be on the same plane while I was reading one of his last books and he was kind to sign the title page.
Most have been great honour
To meet him
Thought Shelby never signed his books
@@Daveglorious I've heard he would do it if you found him and knew who he was. He wouldn't do like a mass signing at a convention or something.
@@Daveglorious That is what he said.
Was he a confederate
Certainly, not everyone agreed with Foote's analyses of the Civil War but one was always informed and often entertained.
His modest but elegant approach to American History is sorely missed in our PC psycho-babble age of partisan political agendas.
Frank Well said.
Foote was not an historian (as is pointed out in the documentary). He was billed as a "author". The other contributors were listed as historians.
@@propriusly He described himself as a "novelist-historian".He was not an academically trained historian as he dropped out of college. He was basically self taught. In his long career he wrote novels, poems, short stories and histories of the Civil War . He also workd as a newspaper reporter and most famously
as one of the narrators of Ken Burns "Civil War" TV series.He was accepted as an eminent historian by his academically trained historian colleagues and won many grants, awards and fellowships as a historian. His obit in the NY Times referred to him as an American historian. In real life it is not what you are called its what you do
that really matters..
@@Frank-mm2yp Shelby Foote had more accurate historical knowledge in his pinky finger than most the "accredited academics" did in their whole body. All of their knowledge of history comes off as existing within an echo chamber. They just regurgitate the same things all the time. Whereas Shelby seemed to have actual intimate knowledge of what he was speaking of. He was a true authentic.
No, they probably don't agree with Mr. Foote, but he was, after all.............RIGHT ON!!! Probably knew more about the War Between the States, than any other single man ..........or woman, living. He was absolutely brilliant. And, as far as I am concerned, I would and do, believe him much more than any other individual that ever thought they knew about that war.
A brilliant man, with a brilliant mind, could listen to him all night ❤️
@Rhodeccia Carter Proof of Mr. Foote's point!
@Rhodeccia Carter Were you always such a dumbass?
@Rhodeccia Carter I love history,studied it both in school and on my own.
I do understand your objection to the Confederate flag or any trinket of the Confederacy.
However,there is another way to view the reason why many,such as I,want to preserve the monuments.
I do believe the Confederate flag should be removed from any state flag though.
There is a need to preserve history or else it can be forgotten and repeated.
That old line "those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it" from George Santayan comes to mind.
Also,consider that today's young people,especially college kids,are abusive,
inconsiderate,bad tempered,bad manners,show lack of respect and are prone to violence for those of us who do not hold their professors political and religious views.
Discussions,constructive criticism,varied opinions should not trigger hate and violence.
I hear Civil War today?
50,000 16,17,18 year old men died at Gettysburg in 3 days of fighting where both sides fought for what they thought was right.
50,000 boys died in Vietnam in 8 years of war.
That was history,did anyone learn from that?
But I would think you'd be more angry about the slavery that continues to exist in Africa TODAY.
War amongst the tribes still exists and prisoners taken become slaves.
Ive seen few documentaries about this problem,why doesn't the news media investigate this and expose it?
@Rhodeccia Carter You, young lady, are brainwashed, naive and terribly racist.
@Rhodeccia Carter I agree, but kill the emojis, alright?
I would love to have met this man, he is one of my Historian heroes.
Me too
Graham Dunne the problem is, he is not a historian, but a writer.
he was not a historian - he cared about how the South was represented in history - he wrote stories about the Civil War. Which is not the same thing
Foote is truly a master craftsman.
@@JHatzadony - Better his well-informed, loving touch than the revisionist horseshit that he describes from this Illinois senator. I can remember seeing the same thing from my own youth; my father was from the South and when we visited his family in Alabama, the Segregation thing was still going on.
We have to do better. Fortune passes everywhere.
History must stand as it is and we must embrace it to know who we are.
Sky Hiker 9 exactly
This is a great comment. If we don't embrace history we will be stupid enough to repeat it. There are always villains and heroes, but when you turn the real heroes into villains the problems start. I wish people would stop trying to mess with history, just learn it. It is neither good nor bad, it just is. Many years ago I was travelling around North Carolina when I came across this monument in this town's Square. It read, "To Our Confederate Dead who gave their Lives in The War of Northern Agression." That is just how they refer to the war in the Southern States. I felt very humble when I saw this because it made me remember that all of the casualties in that war were Americans. I seem.to remember hearing a report that some years ago the U.S. Congress passed a resolution removing the word Confederate from all Civil War cemeteries where Southern soldiers rest. It was simply replaced with American Civil War Cemetery. Like I say, the brain does not always get into gear, but I am sure I ran into this information somewhere. I say it is about time. I think all people need to study the Civil War, it's causes, results and everything along the way, especially how it affected our country for years to come. This must be done considering we are close to the verge of doing it again.
@@Greatvocalmajority4America I like to say "who we are is who we were."
It is what it is like it or not
@@cordiscoscorner In this case, we are not necessarily who we were.
He’s one of the greatest!!! RIP Shelby…
Shelby is so good, please don't stop these videos. Great writer, very wise man
A farmer from Virginia defending his home gets a minie ball through his heart. A factory worker from Massachusetts preserving the Union gets decapitated by a load of grape. A runaway slave from Mississippi trying to find freedom gets captured and executed. Three mothers mourning the loss of their children. All three lives lost for what they believed in. All three lives valuable, equal and worthy of remembrance. You can't honor one and neglect the others. The tragedy was multifaceted.
Billy Mule oh BS- farmers from VA weren’t defending their homes. That’s a crock of lost cause BS. They were defending slavery. There is no moral equivalence.
@@ikant312 Wrong. The elite plantation owners were the ones who were defending slavery. Not the poor white farmer. Those people were simply defending their homes and property from an invasion by the North. You're making a revisionist historian error that is quite common: that is, judging the Civil War using 21st century standards. You can't do that and remain fair.
Look, it is very likely everyone in both the South and the North had what we would consider by today's standards as very racist attitudes when it comes to black people. But the Civil War did not start because of slavery. The Civil War happened because of secession, of which slavery was one of several primary causes, but clearly not the only cause.
The Southern states believed every state in the Union had the right to self-determination. They believed that included their right to choose unilaterally to either remain in the Union or leave it. Lincoln understood that permitting such a thing would be the end of the United States. He could not permit it. Secession, therefore, made war inevitable. The Civil War was really a struggle over the the limits of self-determination of the states.
Great Vocal Majority again, you are just repeating lost cause nonsense. It’s not the 1920s when people didn’t readily have access to the documents we have today. The south fought to maintain and spread slavery- its well documented. You can’t spin reality to what you want it to be.
Most Southerners were fighting for the same reason German soldiers were- they had been lied to by experts in the art. It doesn't mean there weren't brave Southerners or brave Germans.
Well stated.
I did not know that Shelby Foote had passed. 😢 A great historian, I loved his accent and he had a beautiful voice! RIP sir! ❤🙏❤
Get his 3 volume of the Civil War. I am reading it now. Powerful.
...”an arousal of bitterness”. Quite the foreshadowing
Foote is a fine scholar and has a point here, but it would have been more valuable to have him debate his view with an African-American scholar.
Fascinating! I wonder what Mr. Foote would say about today’s domestic political climate.
I was thinking the same thing as I watched this.
If there ever was a time to tar and feather or need a strong rope it's now! Nahhhh, he wouldn't say that. Too much of a gentleman. So I'll say it.
He was pretty vocal about the state of politics all throughout his career, he agreed with Robert E Lee to never display the battle flag again except in a museum.
@ekimshield It's the Democratic Party, you dolt, not the "Democrat Party." You come across as an idiot when you use intentionally provocative phrases like this.
@ekimshield and the republicans are not anti semites? FU!!
Love this man has a Irishman could listen to him all day would have liked to know his opinion of the Irish civil war and the long struggle against the British Empire
Shelby Foote has a brilliant, priceless Southern perspective of the American Civil War. God bless his soul.
The problem is that he’s talking about a compromise made between white northerners and white southerners.
It was never a compromise Black Americans, neither North or South had any input in.
You kept people enslaved for centuries, fought a war to maintain it, and then spent the next 100 years actively terrorizing the newly freed people.
It was not just a war fought between 1861-1865 among white folks who were varying degrees of racist both then and now.
It was a project of dehumanization that goes back 300 years and can only be declared over a mere 50 years ago at best. It arguably still isn’t over.
That’s a junk pseudo intellectual argument. Here are a few problems with it:
1. The war was between whites. Therefore, the compromise was between whites.
2. You wrote, “you kept people enslaved for centuries.” Absurd. That’s a racist attack and an ignorant one at that, since neither me not anyone here enslaved anyone ever, much less for centuries. So, your attack is a blind one against people you assume are white. Pure idiocy.
3. Your assumption that slavery was a project of domination only perpetrated by Europeans against Africans is historically illiterate.
Slavery was and continues to be nearly ubiquitous. For example, slavery existed in Africa at the time blacks were brought to the Western Hemisphere. In fact, slavery has existed everywhere in the world, in every culture throughout human history. Native Americans enslaved other native Americans. According to the Walk Free Foundation, there are at least 45 million slaves in the world today. In fact, slavery still exists in those African countries that were the source of slaves in the Americas.
As a matter of fact, the only places in the world where slavery has been eradicated are the nations of Western Europe, the U.K., the United States, Canada and Australia. Slavery in some form exists everywhere else.
Moreover, while the conditions for blacks in the US has been trending in a positive direction since the end of the 2nd World War, that improvement makes the US the best place in the world for blacks to live. Certainly better than those African countries their ancestors came from where slavery still exists.
Today, Shelby would be appalled to watch the Robert E Lee statue removed by the governor and other monuments, being torn down by a mob, and the great compromise torn up in sheds.
As a child studying the Civil War (in NYC) I completely despised the Confederates for the the division and death they brought to this country. As a adult, I think differently about the Confederacy and I respect for what they believe in and fought for. We should all embrace this history and learn to compromise.
DCEU Fan Well said!
DCEU Fan I have no respect for chattel slavery- so I disagree . Just as I have no respect for the people who followed the fight for slavery up with 100 years of Jim Crow.
It’s hard to argue the Confederacy would have ended slavery when they included it in their Constitution
Southerners despise the union for coming down here and burning everything. I dont support either side and would not have fought for the confederacy, but i REALLY have a problem with the union attacking to regain some tax dollars
@@fuckcensorship69 If Confederates did not come up North and burned everything was not because of lack of trying. Do not confuse the fortunes of war with ethical superiority.
Remember, when the Confederacy invaded Pennsylvania they kinapped Pennyslvania citizens who were black and took them to slave markets. We Pennsylvanians remember the Gallant Southerners.
April 17, 2020. Thank you to the Presenter.
A Great American Historian, agree with him whole heartedly! We shouldn't be ashamed of our past, right or wrong. But learn from it, Black, White, American Indian, or Hispanic. We are all Americans, and should be proud!!!
It's always "Slavery was bad but the South fought for a noble cause, blah blah blah." The truth is, I have ancestors among the first Dutch settlers in America, and the first slaves brought to America arrived on a Dutch ship. I do not hesitate to condemn what they did. I disavow slavery and any excuses for it. It also seems to be forgotten that many in the South remained loyal to the United States. Over 100,000 Southern unionists served in the U.S. Army during the Civil War, and every Southern state except South Carolina raised at least a battalion. The rebellion in the South was far from unanimous.
I agree with him; I am a Jewish American, and, am proud of our history for better or worse
The U.S. needs another Shelby Foote, Asap.
The last thing we need is another Shelby Foote. We've got more than enough racist white supremacists desperately clinging to their Lost Cause narratives of the Civil War. Ah, the heady scent of rotting magnolias...
Wise words in an era where such is becoming rare.
Very, very profound words.
Love his accent.
My father sounded just like him.
It’s Mississippi aristocracy with inflections of both Memphis and New Orleans.
You’ll hear it less and less as we all become homogenized.
Such wise advice by explaining the Great Compromise and his regret that blacks have turned away from their own history. As Faulkner says of Dilsey [representing all courageous blacks in "The Sound and the Fury"] endured just as the Jews endured. Let the statues and stories of such heroic survival remain that important part of a people's willingness to endure and prevail.
Shelby Foote, and his voice, he is entrainment, he is not an historian. He is the sleepy voice of a long ago sleepy south who prospered not on intellect or innovation but prospered in the enslavement of millions of Africans stolen from their country, in chains brought to the South to build their plantations, roads, bridges, homes, historical places and most of all the buildings of Washington DC. That is the true historical south, and a lot of early America, built upon the back of slaves, Africans, who have a right now to ask that why do they not own the South they built without wage compensation and why do they not have the right to inter as in enslave the southern dependents, the southern white folks today, like Shelby Foote, for the next 100 or so years so they might experience the same as the African captives and see how they feel about the second "great compromise."! Shelby Foote has what Sean Connery had, a "voice" and that is all he had. In this titled "Brilliant insights from the late Shelby Foote" he nots his own dismay over why the Black African Americans, dependents of slaves, cannot support their own enslaved history like the Jewish people do of the holocaust with museum and monuments? Well if that is the case then we must began with trails of the Southern slaves owners, long gone but in absentia, and then demand and get reparations for Africans Americans, as did the Jewish people of Israeli did from the German nations.
Shelby foote spoke with great knowledge of civil war. A true historian gentleman.
Shelby would be absolutely despised today just because he uses terms like "the blacks". They wouldn't care about the fact that he was a brilliant man. He's the only person I've ever heard that has such authentic knowledge of the Civil War that listening to him talk about it is like listening to a person talk about it that was actually there and he doesn't just get bogged down talking about slavery or abolition. Shelby was awesome.
Reflects the intellectual elegance and best of Southern Society.
I agree a gentleman and scholar
A great author. We could learn a lot about current attitudes from him. .
But we wont, because . . . progressivism!
Brian Lamb speaking: how do you write do you write with a pencil do you write with a crayon, do you write with a felt marker, you write on paper, do you write on cardboard, do you write on butcher paper, or do you use a typewriter or do use a computer, just how do you do it just tell us so we'll know
Miss this guy.
The Holocaust Museum is a far cry from a Disney theme park attraction based on an idealized Antebellum Deep South. There is a reason Nazi symbols are illegal in Germany for public display outside of museums and historical research. There is no "brilliant insight" in supporting the equivalent of a minstrel show without blackface. If I was black, that would also piss me off.
Like Foote, I'm from Mississippi, but that Disney slavery experience was a bad idea. Shelby Foote was perceptive historian, but he was wrong about glorifying the southern Lost Cause premise.
spoken from your "view of being white" www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-03-27-fi-38893-story.html
Where he talk of how the old enmities from the Civil War had finally faded by the time he wrote his book, in a way that they hadn't when he was a grade school boy, I wonder how much of that was a direct result of World War Two. People today forget that pre-WWII, when there were no interstate highways and air travel was pretty much restricted to the wealthy, that people were a lot less mobile. It was far more common to live your whole life in or near the town where you were born. But the war moved people around. People joined the armed forces and got billeted with other people from all over the country, giving them a chance to get to know, and form strong bonds of friendship with people from other regions of the US (especially people who went into combat together). And even on the homefront, a lot of people traveled to different cities to take jobs in vital war industries -- my own maternal grandfather among them. I think that sudden mobility of the population and the way it brought people of North and South back together probably had a lot to do with breaking those old hatreds down.
And on a different note -- what a crying shame that that old, aristocratic southern accent of his seems to be dying out. I could listen to this man read the phone book.
You're right, the WWII effort ended a lot of the old grudges. The south was a very insular region until the late 20th century but as its modernized the accents are becoming washed out. Im from NC and nowadays only people from the country have a southern accent.
@@TheMallen07 the grudges are still there. I have been called a Yankee for decades in south Carolina. I own businesses that employ over 300 people and I get called a carpetbagger. Well I am done. Selling out to a major corporation and they are going to sell off everything. Bye bye to all the jobs I created and bye bye S.Carolina. Never to return.
@@FYMASMD its kind of funny, my boss is from NY and lives on Columbia SC. Ive never called him a Yankee nor would I, but he openly refers to himself as one. He wears it as a badge of honor. But to your point, the old saying "theres still some rebels in the south" holds true. NC has its fare share. I wouldnt let their remarks get to you.
@@TheMallen07 Back in the 1980s i was friends with a kid from georgia, who knew the Civil war like the back of his hand he was 11 when i met him, and was the stereotypical Johhny Reb. So it was certainly alive and well in pockets. Boyscout troops would come back from jamborees and tell stories about southerners calling them dam yankees. i was certainly a thing in the 1980s, those old divides.
Probably both the war and the interstates. Good insight, in my opinion.
One thing I find utterly disheartening is how ignorant of history some of the comments here have been. What’s worse, is how ignorant of the present those same commenters are.
I’d like to point out a handful of historical facts to put the issue of American slavery in its proper context, because God only knows with the fraudulent history of the 1619 Project making the rounds, it’s sorely needed.
First, outside of the Western European powers and the United States, beginning in the early 18th Century was the issue of chattel slavery challenged on moral or religious grounds. Everywhere else in the world then and sadly, many places in the world today, slavery still thrives. So, before condemning its practice in the United States, that fact needs to be recognized.
Second, according to the Walk Free Foundation, there are 9.2 million slaves in Africa TODAY. Many in the very same countries were Africans were sold to westerners. It’s a fact. Look it up. In fact, the only nations which have all but eliminated slavery are Western Europe, Great Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. That’s it. Slavery in one form or another exists to a significant degree practically everywhere else in the world right now. That’s a fact, too.
Most slaves brought to the New World were already slaves being held by rival tribesmen in Africa.
Most slaves brought to the New World ended up in Brazil, Jamaica and other parts of Central and South America. “Only” 388,000 were brought to areas that later became the United States.
In one of the original drafts of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson decried King George III’s imposition of slavery on several of the colonies, noting its immorality. South Carolina refused to support the Declaration, so that section denouncing slavery was scrapped.
It is also true that just prior to the Civil War, there were 250,000 free blacks in the Confederacy. Contrary to popular belief, not all blacks were slaves in the South.
Of that 250,000, 4,000 free blacks held slaves themselves. Contrary to revisionist historical propaganda most of those held as slaves by the free blacks were not “purchased” family members. Only a tiny fraction were.
It is also true that Native American Indian tribes held a significant number of black slaves. The Cherokee, Choctaw, Cree, Chicasaw and Seminoles all held THOUSANDS of black slaves.
In New Orleans, an astonishing 28% of the free blacks living there held their own black slaves and even issued a statement of public support for both the Confederacy and the institution of slavery itself.
My point is simply this: it is far too easy to slam the history of slavery in the United States by ignoring the fullest context in which it occurred. Particularly offensive, is the absurd practice of judging slavery 150 years ago by today’s standards of morality. A revisionist practice called “modernism.” Because, unless we are in the business of imminentizing the Eschaton certain abhorrent practices we take for granted today, may be judged similarly a century and a half from now. Abortion, for example. Would that be fairly judging that common, largely accepted, but thoroughly abhorrent practice? It’s juxtaposition with slavery is rather appropriate here.
Slavery was horrible. But it has existed everywhere and is not peculiar to any one country, race or people. And it still exists. Still, it’s odd to me to read all the virtue bloviation, yet not a hint of a word about the slavery that exists right now. Finally, if Americans who are black were their own country, they would be the 15th wealthiest country in the world. Rather than dwelling on the past, may I suggest dwelling on that?
Exactly right. Facts and data are not something the current "protesters" that like to burn buildings and destroy property deal with very well.
It is a sad perpetuating legacy of man that slavery and subjugation have existed throughout history. The strong have always victimized the weak and rationalize this satanic practice as if it was their divine right. We have come so far with still so far to go. The racial divide in this country is a gap that never should have existed at all. There surely must be a special corner in hell for all those who practiced and condoned this racist dogma.
I'd very much like to get sources for the 388,000 slaves brought to the U.S. as well as the 250,000 free slaves in the south. There is so much in your comment that is new, but not terribly surprising, to me.
@@nwk3 Dr. Henry Louis Gates is the source of the 388,000 number. He is probably the nation's leading exper on this topic. If you google him, you might find his website where he quotes that number. His is an outstanding researcher. It is estimated that 12 million Africans were sold into slavery to Europeans by tribal chieftains who were holding slaves captured from rival tribes. Of the 12 million sold, only 10 million survived the voyage. Many died along the way from illness and disease and a number were simply murdered by being dumped in the ocean. The cruelty was almost unimaginable.
The other numbers you asked about, that is, 250,000 were not freed slaves, but free blacks. Not all blacks were slaves. In fact, there were thousands of black slaveholders. It's important to know this because it highlights the fact that slavery wasn't merely animated by racial supremacist thinking. It was also economic exploitation. But modern politics being what it is, chooses to ignore the fact that there were thousands of free blacks and several thousand black slaveholders. The source of that information was information I heard from an historian on the Larry Elder radio program. Larry Elder is a black conservative from Los Angeles. He's not an apologist for slavery, but he is an advocate for people knowing the WHOLE TRUTH.
@@Greatvocalmajority4America Thanks. I have shared your video.
I could listen to that voice of his all day. Wonderful insight.
The south was pretty brutal for at least the next 155 years. Mr Foote, you are not a black person.
A great & beloved man Shelby, even as far away as Australia. I hope they let out a “combination of a yip & a banshee squall” as they laid him to rest.
Wow, I've just spent way too much time reading comments on here. I will say, there are a lot of intelligent comments on both sides. I don't really have a hard stance either way. I believe the scars of slavery are clearly still evident today. It's the great shame of America. I'm not sure though we can completely wrap our minds around the complexity of society in 1860. The argument that the war was over state's rights is wrong, as is oversimplifying it and saying it was purely about slavery. The reason there is still much racial tention isn't completely because of slavery. It is because our post war government continued to fail and oppress blacks. I am white so, I cannot understand the struggles blacks have had and continue to face today. But, I am willing to listen and try to understand. The comments on here reflect our modern society. No one listens to people with a differing opinion anymore. No one is 100% right all the time and no one is 100% wrong all the time. I worry for the state of this country if we cannot work together for the common good. Respect for one another seems to be a a thing of the past.
Precisely, it has been a very long time since I've heard someone put out there, what you just did. NO one, listens anymore, they have their minds made up, and there is no changing it, there is NO compromise with anything, which is one reason why the race divide still exists today. The blacks want to hide this part of history, simply because it 'offends' them. Wow, imagine that, it 'offends' them! They want to simply rub their part in the history of our country, out of sight! Pretend it didn't happen, and want no one, or no thing, to remind them of it. As Mr Foote said, look at the Jewish people, they put it out front, right were people can see and feel it, so that the future generations can benefit, from the lessons learned from the past. What is it:......Those who do not learn from history, are doomed to repeat it'. Well, just look around, are we seeing the seeds of another 'War between the states' again??? All they want to do is, eradicate all signs of the 'War between the States'. People forget, it was a different time, a different era, and the thinking was so totally different, than those of today. We really cannot fathom what it was like, but we cannot put OUR way of thinking and interject it into the minds of those living 150 years ago. Was it right?, No, but we didn't take part in it, we had no part in it's inception, and will we have a part in it's completion?, who knows, because it's still a canker on humanity, and with people being human, it means that our society nor any society, will ever be 'perfect', but we can make it so it doesn't consume our souls or our lives. Will the races ever live together in harmony? That is a question that is yet to answered, for if you look at today's headlines, it still hasn't, and may never. It all depends on whether they will find common ground..........together. For ANYTHING, to become better than what it is today, it will take BOTH sides, to find that common ground. If it is not found, then you can only blame humanity as a whole, not just one side, for it take TWO sides to make a war.
A thoughtful, articulate and respectful presentation of an important time ..
Black Americans should be proud of their ancestors. Even Americans who were not of slave ancestry celebrated them and their perseverence. No single person was "to blame" for the evolution of slavery in the Americas either, both indegenous slavery and African slavery, at least no named person. It was an uncivilized response to severe shortage of labor. No one celebrated it or morally upheld it (FOR THE MOST PART) although a few tried.
The United States declared independence based on "All men were created equal" No one blames the Russians for living according to their states' standards. But the US pretenede to be better more moral than the Old Country nations under kings. Either live up to your stated standards or shut up about your higher moral values. You are no better than the czar of Russia.
It's like another issue. The most physically accessible country for wheelchairs on earth, was South Africa, this effort took place at the height of apartheid in 1963! As a chair user, I am pleased about that it doesn't mean I am in favor of racial separation and hatred. History is not a sci fi movie, with noble perfect souls over here, and Nazi monsters over there. The interweaving of reality, is painful, and wonderful and it takes a wise heart to be aware of that.
I have a first edition of Mr. Foote's trilogy. It is a remarkable work and was a gift from my late wife. It is eminently readable but Foote practically bends over backwards to avoid mentioning slavery as an issue, although he does give some good words about the fighting ability of USCT soldiers in some actions.
What the late Foote and others don't quite grasp is that there is a difference between remembering history and celebrating history. No one can (or should) object to remembering history but celebrating treasonous behavior and celebrating a culture that was willing to die to support the enslavement of another human being is objectionable on many counts.
Manuel Tijerina You forget that the Civil War was fought for states rights, not for slavery. The emancipation of the slaves was the result of the war, not the cause.
@@robichard The State's rights to own slaves. By the way do you know what happened in the territory of Kansas when the issue of having or not having slavery came down to the people's choice? Hint: "Bloody Kansas" does not sound very much like the State's Rights of Kansas were being respected.
As an African I don't want Disney telling my story. I don't want whites and Jews telling my story, and softening the brutality. Also, I don't want to hear the N word...ad nauseum. I've seen tens of Jewish holocaust movies, two used the K word.
Fine... and?
I understand you don’t want to hear the N word, but there is an entire genre of black music today that enriches itself through its use. I assume you don’t thin that’s ok. How do you propose stopping it?
@@Greatvocalmajority4America
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
crimson...
GivesAShit what you wanna hear,?
A great man and writer. I'm reading his Civil War Trilogy. It's quite good so far.
I hadn't realised that he'd died. I so enjoyed listening to his distinctive voice and accent whilst I watched his American Civil War series.
Dave Wilson
I could listen to him talk forever. I search RUclips just to hear him speak. The fact that he’s so brilliant only makes him more fantastic.
I hate that he’s gone.
God bless him neither had l
We’ve got to work on another “Great Compromise” to get through this mess called 2020...
The Dude is the BOSS!!! Better historian than what comes out of Universities.
Southerners are the best storytellers.
Shelby had the best look on history. It's repeating itself today. Most didn't learn the lesson, so it repeats itself
History doesn’t repeat itself. At most, it rhymes.
Wow just imagine if Foote was alive today and saw what’s happening to statues!
I have his 3 books and as a Yankee they have fervor and class...
I’m afraid Shelby Foote may have seen but a passing moment....
The man was a genius!
I agree
What brilliant way to think of history....An entirely new concept which I shall embrace
As a youngster, I was brainwashed by the government run public school system that union victory was a good thing. As an adult with life experience, I witness the rise of oppressive centralized government and wonder if it would not have been better if the South had won. After all, they exercised their Constitutional right to succeed when the central government became tyrannical against them (through the imposition of unfair tariffs on Southern cotton). Remember, Americans declared independence from Britain for a similar transgression.
How would that hack been a good thing for anyone who wasn’t white
There is no constitutional right to secede. The founding fathers seceded from a state with no written constitution and so set about writing one that embodied the values underlying the state from which they were withdrawing. What would have happened had the confederacy not suffered defeat? A good question I have often asked my self. The survival of a modern trading nation with people being owned as property is obviously unthinkable. The would have been rejected even by the British who needed their cotton. Cotton growing would have expanded in other countries while the confederate states grappled with how to reform themselves without compulsion from the Union.
"Oppressive central government"? Has the Central Government ever whipped you for not fulfilling your quota? Has it ever taken your children from your arms and sold them? If you are a woman, has the Government told you that it is your duty to be raped by whoever wants it? Find out what life was for slaves and THEN talk about oppression.
That man is missed
Brilliant southern gentleman.
I agree as we say in England
Gentleman and scholar
Don't forget it was these Southern gentlemen who supported slavery.
THIS FOOL HAS IT BACKWARDS 😬
There is a vast difference between seeing yourself as a victim vs a survivor.
the star of david is not worn on their faces and the color of a jews skin can be any hue. Walk around with dark skin and see how you are reacted to
matt klein , perhaps people resent the rigged game in the dark skins’ favor over past things they had no part in
@@moreme40 Whiner
moreme40 translation- perhaps people resent civil rights and equality.
@@moreme40 yeah, It aint never gonna be rigged in the favor of people who have to see anothers ethnic bigotry just by waking up in the morning and seeing that bigotry directed at them. You lost a position cause of affirmative action? sounds more like you dont wanna be accused for something you didnt have a part in, there we are in agreement but, if you look at people with bigotry then you do have a part
Unfortunately, today’s political environment has heated up the the vitriol regarding the Civil War. We have gone backwards the past 15-20 years….
Couldn't agree more. History, good and bad, is part of American heritage and should be studied and learned from.
Which means ALSO the 1619 Project and Critical RAce Theory.
@@adrianainespena5654 Well, I think every point of view is valid to whosoever puts them forward. The whole subject of racism boils down to the fact that humans possess tribal identities. No-one is going to change that on more than a pretty superficial level.
@@petehall889 Now if only those who complain that their history is being lost would also welcome the 1619 project I would take them seriously. But if it is not "let us know the past and learn from it... mainly what not to do if we want to avoid trouble" but instead "let us cling to our comfortable ideas" then they REALLY need a swift kick in the butt by Reality
Great Man influenced my Favorite author HAMPTON SIDES......
yes,yes fascinating
He is so well spoke and really smart guy. I don't agree with everything he says, but I sure like hearing his view points.
This smacks of the “Lost Cause” mythology. He wanted blacks to celebrate slavery- what? It is people like Mr. Foote who were running from the real history of slavery because I guarantee you he was not interested in blacks talking about the true horrors of chattel slavery in the antebellum south that lasted for over 200 years. So, I don’t get the Holocaust comparison because the Jewish community does not try to sanitize or downplay the horrors of the Holocaust.
People like you keep racism alive,
Lee Blount no racist like you keep racism alive
mo-first off foote himself opposed the disney project(for different reasons)........but dont you think it should have dawned on him that black folks were worried that disney was gonna "disneyfy" the slave experience rather than portray it realistically
@@georgegaros1760 Indeed, and they would not have any control. There was of course Roots and The Book of Negroes among others that dramatize it. I think that another issue with the US slavery is that after the terrible war, to rejoin the Union, the States had to ratify the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments. However, until the 1960's the supreme court of the US, in effect refused to enforce these statutes (arguably, the first case being Brown v. BoE in 1954). I find this unforgivable and a politicization of the Court on an unprecedented scale. The law and amendments were clear, they just did not enforce them for no legally valid reason I can think of. Such behaviour empowered the southern states to enact Jim Crow laws knowing they would not be overturned. So, in effect while slavery was finished in its truest form, the restrictions on African-Americans were only slightly less onerous, especially in the 1890's and 1930's, leading to the great northern migrations of those years. So ... as such, the wounds of Slavery are combined with the wounds of the subjugation of the 100 years thereafter and that is, I suspect, for many just too long and too fresh to want to watch on film. For me, I could see it reinforcing the systemic problems that still exist today; pretty depressing. I think interest in these roots will eventually come on a broader basis, but that may have to wait a while until society has become more inclusive and fair and African-Americans as a large group can truly feel pride of place in America. Only then they will have 'overcome' as Mr. Foote suggests is the case for Jewish people. Perhaps, but my argument, in sum, is that the economic circumstances for Jewish people in America since WW2 is quite a contrast to that of African-Americans in the 100 years since the Civil War and that was even with 3 yes THREE constitutional amendments to protect them, a protection Jewish people never had. I think his comparison is insensitive to the continuing issues that African Americans face in America. Yes, all of that is a long time ago, but the dinner table is a hell of a pulpit and be it the spreading of intolerance or the perpetuation of resentment the echoes are very much alive.
@@georgegaros1760 Absolutely, but of course the slave experience has already been Disneyfied. Have you never seen the movie "Song of the South"?
Can you imagine how these comments would be received today?
That there was The Main Man. I miss him greatly. He know his history now and not 1 sided he tell you both sides story in a Fair & honest way. Anybody try call him racist like today they try pin that on everybody some people don't agree with. Well they don't know what they talking about. They need spend more time in the history books & less time on TV trying this self promoting themselves & there stupid ideas. Lot there talk I can't find in any history books I think they make up 95% there BS.
Not so; he is clearly biased in favor of the Confederacy.
Its not over by any means, the a South is still upset that they lost, and the North still resents that they have to keep sending money to prop up all the Southern states. The top ten poorest states in the country are all Southern states.
alwaysmylove that’s because after the civil war the South incurred war debt payed by taxes on goods. Debt that wasn’t paid off until the 1950’s in some states. In the 40’s it cost more to ship a piece of steel from Birmingham to Montgomery than it did to ship the same piece of steel from Pittsburgh to Montgomery.
@SJ Greer Becuase we take care of our poor. Not like you Deplorable states who couldnt give a shit about them. Besides, how could you take care of them anyway, YOU HAVE NO MONEY TO TAKE CARE OF THEM, Youre poor! Any money that you do have, New York sends to you. And Im sick of it. Thanks for all your help during this pandemic.
@SJ Greer Wowwww and youre a fucking racist to. "Arent even Americans" Thats what you said. Anyone who says something like that is subhuman. I will have to show that quote to my spouse. You are disgusting. They are human beings you jackass. Fuck you! Get the fuck off this planet.
@@mylesprobus1253 The South was far behind to start with.
That war was never really over for the South or else nobody had the urge to have a Confederate flag.
He’s da man on Civil War History and anything about the South 👍👍
Yeah he were.
GREAT man
Times have changed, Shelby. The South in the Civil War was defeated, and what it stood for.
lol - gee another person who knows more about History than those who have spent a lifetime researching it & have written books etc -
@@johnjerman3421 What??? You say that the South won??? That it was actually Grant who surrendered at Appomatox? (actually seeing how both Lee and Grant were dressed people would think that). As to what it stood for, didn't the Confederacy say in its documents that it fought to keep blacks in bondage? Yeah, when they were defeated they changed their tune - but when they thought they would prevail and did not need to measure their words.
This guy couldn’t stop sounding racist if he tried.
Shelby Foote was my favourite part of the Ken Burns documentary. A great storyteller and he put that Southern perspective in clear display. That's one of the great things about Burns' work - it relies so heavily on PRIMARY sources. But Foote is truly out of touch here. His talk of "compromise" is a lie. The issue is that the figures of the Confederacy aren't just remembered through History, but celebrated and venerated. People aren't getting the actual History ............. that the Confederacy sought to leave the Union over the right to own Slaves. They talk about States Rights and Northern aggression but that's just bullshit. Any attempt to romanticize that period is just another whitewash of historical fact.
Mine too
Well said. "Northern aggression" is total bs. The South began seceding one by one after the 1860 election results. Buchanan was still president when this was happening and even he couldn't prevent rebellion. The South wasn't going to compromise at all.
Its NOT a white wash, and the fact that you can suggest that everything that happened revolved around 1 single issue suggests you probably arent well-versed in history NOR economics! Change the name 'slavery' to "big oil' big pharma', 'military-industrial' complex or whichever of your favorite exploitative economic driver and it would fit quite well ( obviously the chattel part doesnt make it apples to apples comparison, but it was the economics of the thing that sustained it. Racial hatred was only there to justify that means to an end, it wasnt really based on racial hatred)
Ironically, the War is hot again.
Robert E. Lee was largely a character who received scant attention
Thirty years ago but today anti-Lee passion is back where it was in 1865.
We might have had the great compromise and the healing of such wounds
fifty years ago but it seems these woulds have burst asunder and bleed anew.
When one sees Union monuments destroyed one thinks many people
don't want to think about the Civil War, discuss the Civil War, be reminded
of the Civil War and even have any thoughts that Americans have in the past
killed each other and we are edging closer to such divisions not seen
in most peoples living memories now.
If people do not heed Shelby Foote's wise insights we are headed in a direction
of constructing fairy tales and half truths which in the end will leave
us all less wise, more ignorant, and more dull of mind.
Apparently Shelby does not understand the 100+ years of terrorism and violence perpetrated on ex-slaves by the ex-Confederates, or that the fight is STILL being fought with voter suppression, economic disadvantages, covert segregation, and racially-biased policing.
Shelby studies the past. He should turn his eyes to the present.
Or, you could say the racism perpetrated on former slaves continues in the form of government dependency. Jefferson said, “Dependency breeds subservience and venality; suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition.”
Also, Shelby Foote passed away 15 years ago.
@@Greatvocalmajority4America However, those people who DO get government support tend to do so for a shorter time, and end up contributing more to the economy than if they had NOT received support. By cutting support, you drive MORE people into DEEPER poverty for LONGER periods of time with WORSE outcomes. But, hey, why let facts get in the way of a good screed?
For the US, the issue is that racism has created pockets of people who have underfunded schools, do not have jobs near them, and they cannot afford to GET to the jobs, so, there is a skills gap. Also, people applying to those jobs using their actual names are more likely to get screened out if they have an ethnic sounding (aka "African-American" sounding) name.
@@chrisrautmann8936 Your reply is.
stereotypical and simplistic.
You see people as groups not as individuals. Your comment about names is indefensible and unprovable. But as you stated " Hey, why let facts get in front of a good screed."
@@edmonddantes3640 Statistics actually do have a bearing on how public policy should work. No, you cannot save EVERYONE, but you you should not condemn EVERYONE because a FEW people are NOT helped.
Great scholar!
And gentleman
The opinion that the confederate soldiers fought bravely for a cause in which they believed does not foreclose the fact that this cause was evil.
Slavery was wrong indeed. Obviously, but the quote from Southern General LongStreet (played by Tom Berenger) in the movie Gettysburg "We should have freed the slaves first and then declared war on the North" ....seems to be very telling. Lincoln even said before that thing started that he would have kept slavery to avoid a war. The South saw "other" things to come, and they just might have been right about those other things. That being said, I doubt things would have ended up much different than they are now. Money and power corrupts.
If every person alive today was living during the Civil War period, 90% of them would have been considered a racist by today’s standard. But, what we get is most people today saying that they could have never held these views 160 years ago.
@@keithbishop9759 great point. What they think and what would have been is probably not going to be the same if time travel were posdible to prove it.
Yep. Plenty of German soliders in WWII fought bravely for a cause they believed in. Too bad that they were mistaken.
I deeply appreciate Mr. Foote, yet I have to point out a failing. We all have failings and Mr. Foote is just human after all. He wishes blacks would embrace the heritage of slavery as Jew’s acknowledge and pursue their history. For such an intelligent man, that is not an intelligent question. Jews in Eastern Europe were free, productive members of society and in a few years they were slaughtered. Blacks lived as slaves or living in some form of apartheid in this country from 1619 until the 1970’s. Before professing disappointment at the “historical take” of those who don’t need reminding, Shelby should take a moment and reconsider “why”.
Jews were plagued by regular pogroms in different parts of Europe. So it is not like this was entirely out of the blue for the jews. Spanish Inquisition was formed to convert, to remove or kill the jews before it morphed into what it became. You missed the part where Shelby likened the Black slaves to jewish slaves in egypt from the Exodus story. As highly religious as black people used to be, one might think this would resonate with black people.
RIP, Dr. Foote...
Not to be argumentative, but it's hardly over today. I was raised in SE MO, and have lived all over the US and abroad during my life. I moved to AR to settle in for my remaining years, and it has been an unremitting blast of hateful ignorance from the locals since then; anyone born 50 miles north of here is automatically classed as a 'Yankee'...
LOL I became friends with a woman who lived outside of Little Rock, and she had remarked similar things! Certainly not dead yet!
If he were alive today, he could see thesituation has changged drastically. The so-called compromise--if itreally existed--began to unravel in 2012.
Before President Lincoln was assassinated, His desire was to rehabilitate those who fought for the Confederacy.
You have to remember, the Confederacy didn’t want a war. They preferred to leave the Union in peace, but both sides knew a war was inevitable because the union had military forts all over the South and they didn’t recognize the Confederacy as legit. The months prior to the attack on Fort Sumter was marked by Lincoln and Davis jockeying for position to have the other take the first shot. The South fired on Sumter in a battle where nobody was killed. Lincoln then used that to declare rebellion. Lincoln wanted war. Not the Confederacy. Without war, Lincoln could not reunite the Union and he might lose other states to secession.
The first two years of the Civil War were not about slavery. That became the cause after the Emancipation Proclamation and the passage of the 13th Amendment.
Lincoln knew, however, that the South believed each state had an inherent right to self-determination. Lincoln believed once a state becomes part of the Union, they cannot leave it unilaterally because that would create instability and chaos.
Those are the things Mr. Foote is referencing. The south’s “cause” wasn’t slavery. It’s cause was whether they were free to leave the Union should they so choose. A cause for which they fought bravely, however misguided it was for more reasons than the moral blight of the institution of slavery.
Great Vocal Majority yes, the south’s cause was slavery- not because I say so- but because they said so. Stop pushing the “ Lost Cause” nonsense.
@@cruisinusa5110 that is not true. Unilateral secession was the proximate cause of the Civil War. There is nothing twisted about that fact. Had the South been able to negotiate a secession, rather than to consider it their self-determinative right to leave the Union, there would have been no war and slavery would have continued through a Confederacy of Southern states without any war. The continuance and expansion of slavery was one of the primary causes of secession, but it was not a proximate cause of the war.
You are forgetting the fact that it was Lincoln who provoked the South into firing the first shot, in order to justify declaring them in rebellion.
Moreover, when war broke out, nobody in the North believed they were going to war to end slavery. Most of the Northerners were every bit as racist as the Southern slaveholders toward the black race. It wasn't until 1863 with the war largely stalemated and bloody as hell that Lincoln rallied the Union to the cause of ending Slavery.
Lincoln's primary motivation for going to war against the Confederacy was to re-establish the Union. Ending slavery was considered too ambitious.
Think about it. Had Lincoln not declared the South to be in rebellion after the attack on Fort Sumter, the so called "border states" would have been inclined to leave the Union, too. Lincoln could not permit unilateral secession. Northerners referred to the Confederates as "secessionists."
Another fact that you're forgetting is that two slave states were on the Union side! Maryland and Delaware were both state where slavery continued to be practiced.
All of this to say, the Civil War was a struggle that was a lot more complex than a simple battle to end slavery. It's a gross oversimplification to put it in those terms. That's what makes studying it so fascinating and that's why Shelby Foote's writings on it are so fantastically insightful.
@@Greatvocalmajority4America _"...the union had military forts all over the South..."_ This is incorrect. In fact, the _Federal government_ had military installations in the Southern region of the United States. Your wording pre-supposes the legitimacy of the Confederacy, which, as the Civil War definitively established, was not a legal entity.
@@ikant312 You need to be aware of something. If the North could have benefited from slavery as much as the South did, then there would have been slavery in the North. Trust me on this.
Very smart guy, we need more of then today, ignorance rule the day today, hope we can be friends.
the protesters who tear down historic statues should with an open mind listen to this video before they tear down another.
So beautifully explained.facts not opinions
I think it’s because we don’t like our position in society we don’t feel treated well or of the appropriate status and reception.
It’s like a former prostitute talking about all that trauma when she’s only just left the brothel and is barefoot, ragged and homeless, not got a job got cleaned up and married etc etc
It’s too shameful, because you’re still suffering and in a degrading position.
This old Democrat makes no bones about human oppresion !
“It seems to me she’s trying to hide history from us, and that’s a mistake.”
So you are in favor of the 1619 Project and Critical Race Theory?
I could listen to Shelby Foote talk all day. That accent is something you don't hear anymore. "High Caste Southern".
@Stephen Carter that does not detract from the substance of the message.
@Stephen Carter I trust a drunkard more than anyone. They always tell the truth. Bottoms up!!!
@Stephen Carter Wow....the only put-down of Shelby Foote, I have ever seen in print. World-class author and historian-hero. You truly can't please some people. You probably don't speak well of Shakespeare, either.