Welcome to Litsy!

Once again the #TBRtarot helped me get a book off my shelf that's been unread for too long. This is a remarkable piece of scholarship on Black women's lives during slavery in the plantation South. White synthesises a lot of primary resources & archival material to undercut the Jezebel vs. Mammy dichotomy that even popular culture continues to evoke. I appreciate that she restores agency to these women's lives without erasing the horrific reality.

I‘ve been working through this all month (in between reading old wills, searching for marriage bonds, etc.) and it‘s fascinating. It‘s taking me so long because there‘s a lot to think about, not because it‘s a difficult read, but I‘m in the home stretch and hope to post a review soon.

I grew up near Pisgah National Forest and visit frequently, but until recently never realized it was the very first designated National Forest (1916). While Spencer‘s book is probably only of interest to Southern Appalachians, the story involves the Vanderbilts, Biltmore House, and a German who ran the very first forestry school in the US. The pic is from last October at Catawba Falls.

I found this book at a new local library and the title quickly caught my attention. The author says he‘s the descendant of the famous confederate Robert E. Lee (now disputed). He talks about how he grew up not understanding the meaning of the flag, seeing racism all around him, and then finally speaking out about it, with the cost of being cut off by his own church (shocker😔). He is still speaking out today. Recommended.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

—Martin Luther King, Jr

Older white America, my generation, can‘t see our racism. We could pass a polygraph saying ‘I‘m not racist,‘ but what we need is a polygraph of the heart.

—David Crabtree

This nation is sick. Our cultural anxiety, toxic masculinity, and racial, religious, and ethnic bigotries are eating away at the soul of this nation.

—Jonathan L. Walton

That‘s the beauty of the South, resiliency is at our core. I would argue that progressive people in the South desperately want to see our region lifted up for its progress and its willingness to change. We all see the potential, but the realities seem daunting.

Remember what Jaime Harrison said: ‘a new South!‘

In the 1850s, white worshippers attending the church decided African American slaves needed their own place of worship; that‘s how St. Paul‘s, came to be. In the 1860s, this church‘s pastor took leave to join the Confederates, with the support of his flock. Amazon doc: White Savior: Racism In The American Church https://watch.amazon.com/detail?gti=amzn1.dv.gti.acb70f69-cf3a-4969-48c5-6c84d4c...

I don‘t know if Statesville will ever fully evolve, or if the South will become a place where the best of this region can be enjoyed by all, fully reaching its potential. But I know the possibilities are endless. The task of the Southerner, the task of white people, the task of humankind is to realize that change and work for it.