I am amazed that I never heard of this speech. American Catholic has a great entry at Nathan Bedford Forrest and Racial Reconciliation
Friday, August 6, 2010
Nathan Bedford Forrest And His Change of Heart Toward Blacks
Posted by James H at 8/06/2010 11:32:00 AM
Labels: Civil War History, THE SOUTH, United States History
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2 comments:
NBF got a bad rap. The Ft. Pillow incident was probably overblown. His alleged founding of the first incarnation of the KKK, while not endearing by any means (if it is accurate), was a different animal than the KKK of the 1960s. While it might not have been any less violent, its aim was to remove carpet bagging northerners from power as much as it was to deprive blacks of power.
Not that I am nominating him for sainthood, but I'm not sure he was ever anymore more racist than Sherman or Philip Sheridan. He also seemed to have discarded any racist baggage he did have, as this article is evidence of.
Yeaj the Fort Pillow and someof the stuff right after the war I guess is what I have mind when I think of him. I was never aware he made this sppech which seems revoultionary for the times and took some braverly it appears on his part
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