NEWSHOUR CANVAS - Blacks in History

"Boston restores monument to Black Civil War troops" PBS NewsHour 2/24/2021

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SUMMARY:  In a time when statues and monuments around the country are being removed for what they represent, the Shaw Memorial in Boston is receiving attention of a different sort.  It is being fully restored, with pride that the monument depicting Black soldiers marching off to battle in the civil war, stands the test of time.  Special correspondent Jared Bowen of GBH Boston reports.

 

 

"During Black History Month, students reflect on their modern-day heroes" PBS NewsHour 2/24/2021

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SUMMARY:  Black History Month expands students’ understanding of the Black experience in American history.  But one teacher in Akron, Ohio wanted her students to see that Black history isn’t something that happened in the past, it happens every single day through each of them.  She worked with our Student Reporting Labs program to record these reflections from students.

 

 

"Looking back in history to help inform and improve future race relations" PBS NewsHour 2/25/2021

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SUMMARY:  Daily reports of disturbing racial incidents and what appear to be deepening racial divisions within the country leave many looking for answers.  Special correspondent Charlayne Hunter-Gault recently spoke with Dr. Ronald Crutcher, a classical musician and president of the University of Richmond, about confronting the complexities of racism.

 

 

"Rare Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. signatures found in Alabama jail logbook" PBS NewsHour 2/25/2021

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SUMMARY:  Rare documents with 12 signatures of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. sold on Wednesday for more than $130,000.  They were penned in an Alabama jail logbook after King was arrested in April 1963 for leading a march against racial segregation.  Rikki Klaus reports on the unprecedented item.  It's part of our arts and culture series, "CANVAS."

CONFEDERATE MONUMENTS - The Debate

IMHO:  Note the Confederacy conducted a war against the United States of America, a union which they signed a contract (Constitution of the United States) to join and support.  They committed treason and the Confederacy should never be calibrated nor memorialized.

"What the future could hold for these symbols of the American past" PBS NewsHour 6/23/2020

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SUMMARY:  As the country faces a moment of reckoning about its treatment of Black Americans and other people of color, the display of memorials, monuments and statues is being reexamined.  Some of these symbols are being torn down by protesters, and others removed by authorities or relocated.  But what is the historical context behind their origin?  Jeffrey Brown reports for our Race Matters coverage.

"Monuments, statues and a national reckoning on racial injustice" PBS NewsHour 6/23/2020

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SUMMARY:  The debate over physical symbols of the Confederacy has evolved into a broader one about U.S. history.  Judy Woodruff talks to Peniel Joseph, professor at the University of Texas at Austin, W. Fitzhugh Brundage, professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Arielle Hudson one of six students who petitioned the University of Mississippi to relocate a campus Confederate statue.

AMERICA - The Confederacy

Subtitle: "The refusal to acknowledge the confederate cause was wrong and that they lost the 'argument'"

"The shifting history of Confederate monuments" PBS NewsHour 8/14/2017

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SUMMARY:  The backdrop of Saturday's violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, was a plan to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from the city's downtown.  What's the story behind such monuments and why do we continue to struggle with the legacy of the Civil War?  Edward Ayers of the University of Richmond joins William Brangham to offer some historical context.

"How cities prepare for tensions over Confederate statues" PBS NewsHour 8/17/2017

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SUMMARY:  Statues of Confederate leaders have been removed in the night, torn down by protesters and seen as a flash point for communities, especially in the South.  What challenges do cities face when trying to deal with controversial memorials, as well as the backlash?  Hari Sreenivasan talks with Lt. Ryan Lee of the Portland Police Bureau; and Mayor Jim Gray of Lexington, Kentucky.

HISTORY - George Washington and Robert E. Lee

"Exploring Robert E. Lee’s connections to George Washington" PBS NewsHour 2/16/2015

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SUMMARY:  Robert E. Lee was the son of a Revolutionary War hero who was a trusted aide to George Washington.  In 1861, after 25 years in the U.S. Army, Lee turned down an offer to command Union forces in the Civil War.  That decision is the subject of a new book, “The Man Who Would Not Be Washington.”  Judy Woodruff talks to author Jonathan Horn about choices that change history.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Now, a new take on Robert E. Lee, the famous Confederate general, with President George Washington as the touchstone.

I recently talked with the author of this look at two men who helped shape American history.

The civil war split families, states and the nation; 74 years after the signing of the Constitution, the United States was torn in two.  One of the more conflicted participants in the war was none other than Robert E. Lee, a son of a Revolutionary War hero who was a trusted aide to General George Washington.  He married the daughter of Washington’s adopted son.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Lee had served 25 years with the U.S. Army, but in April 1861, he turned down an offer to command the Union Army, resigned his commission, and accepted the command of the military and naval forces of Virginia.

All this and more can be found in the new book, “The Man Who Would Not Be Washington:  Robert E. Lee’s Civil War and His Decision That Changed American History” by Jonathan Horn, who served as a speechwriter and special assistant to former President George W. Bush.

Jonathan Horn, welcome to the NewsHour.

JONATHAN HORN, Author, “The Man Who Would Not Be Washington”:  Thanks for having me.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  So, you grew up in the area around Washington. Is that where this interest in Robert E. Lee came from?

JONATHAN HORN:  That’s exactly where this interest came up.

If you glow up on the Potomac River, you have so much of Robert E. Lee’s and George Washington’s history all around you.  Robert E. Lee was born in Westmoreland County downriver from Washington, and so was Washington.  Robert E. Lee grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, right near George Washington’s Mount Vernon plantation, and Robert E. Lee married his wife at Arlington House, which is that great pillared mansion that’s now a cemetery, but back then it was actually a memorial to George Washington.

It was filled with relics of George Washington, because, as you mentioned, Robert E. Lee had married the daughter of George Washington’s adopted son.