Up to Interpretation?

Read this marker and tell me if you see anything wrong with it.

On a recent visit to Harper's Ferry, my husband and I paused to read what we thought would be a heartfelt tribute to some historical moment or person. We found this to be hysterical instead. What also amused us is that when we laughed, we were looked at like we were crazy or insensitive. I suppose if your interest wandered and you only read the first part, it would seem insensitive to laugh.

But what struck us was the second part. The part that was the dedication. As we read it, the United Daughters of the Confederacy and Sons of the Confederate Veterans were basically thanking the 'negroes' (aka- slaves and freedmen) for resisting the temptation of joining in the fight for their freedom. That this 'nonaction' showed them in such a light that they should be proud. No, they did not run off and grab at freedom with their greedy hands. Nope, instead they kept themselves aside until freedom was inevitable. They knew their station in life. They waited until the people who had a right to tell them how to live their lives were forced to acknowledge they were free. Yes, all in all, they showed all the marks of being 'good darkies' (here I substitute a word used by many of the "Old South" for the N-word, which might be more fitting historically.)

It struck us as totally ridiculous and tasteless that such a monument would be erected- or at the very least, still standing. To suggest that only by not joining the fight for freedom, one could avoid a "stain" on the record of the "best of both races" is ridicuous in a sublime way. And offensive, in my opinion. It suggests that those that did fight, run, grab at freedom with both hands...that these are the ones who did not have character, who were the stains. That living in oppression was out of faithfulness rather than of fear. I suppose at one time, in a different era, this would have been the prevailing thought. But I find the fact that this historical marker is still standing makes it a remnant of history itself. And not a stainless one at that.