This is one of my favorite twists in American history.
Gail Chumbley is the author of the two-part memoir “River of January,” and “River of January: Figure Eight.” Chumbley has penned two plays, as well. “Clay” on the life of Senator Henry Clay, and “Wolf By The Ears,” exploring the beginnings of racism and slavery.
Planters ruled, the rest lugged rifles.
The above diagram and similar images often appear in American history texts. Represented is Southern society in the years prior to the Civil War, and a quick glance makes clear that authority was held by the few over the many. Virginia’s House of Burgesses is an early example of a landed aristocracy creating laws for the rest.
Small scale farmers and poor whites pose some interesting questions regarding antebellum (before the war) class associations. Did small land holders (yeomen) actually wield any authority in this ordered system? How did customs and rules shape relations between poor whites and slaves? The most pressing question asks why lower class whites stepped into the line of fire for the lofty Planter class? After all, Southern aristocrats strictly associated with their own, and did not give the time of day to any social inferiors, white or black.
So why did Southern boys don gray and butternut uniforms when planters from Tallahassee to Little Rock voted to secede from the Union? What did rebel boys hope to gain from their betters?
One explanation must touch upon race and identity. Small land holders and poor whites, as hard as they struggled to survive somehow believed or wanted to believe they shared more in common with the aristocrats at the top. Identifying with the enslaved below, despite living in similar adversity was unthinkable. And these sons of the South scrapped hard. Some 300,000 Confederate soldiers died of shot, disease, or returned home maimed to preserve a culture that held them down.
Let’s put a pin there.
Keeping in mind the above image fast forward to the 2008 victory of Barack Obama. For many of us the election of our first black president marked a high point in racial history, seemingly proof that America had finally faced and redeemed the violent legacy of injustice.
And despite President Obama’s two successful terms in office, (Obama is somewhere among the top ten presidents of all time) the persistent legacy of racial hatred roared back to life as virulent as any year in old Dixie.
Like demons summoned from the dead, the ugly ghosts of white supremacy rose, once again fueled by a latter day white aristocracy. America is witnessing in real time DJT and his plutocrats purposely riling up lower class whites to again man their battle fronts.
A black president, a very popular and effective black president united malicious forces of hubris, greed, and malignant hate.
This toxic furnace of racism has honestly emerged as something of a shock. For those of us who bore witness to the Civil Rights movement, applauded affirmative action policies, and celebrated landmark legislation in housing and voting rights, led us to believe a A More Perfect Union was underway. But we were wrong.
Stunningly wrong.
47”s first administration emboldened a Klan-style march in Charlottesville, where he remarked there were “good people on both sides.” Left unmentioned was the fate of Heather Heyer, a counter protestor, who was deliberately targeted and killed in the melee. In 2021 Mr 47 groomed his working class foot soldiers to “stand back and stand by.” When the order came, these emboldened thugs sacked the US Capitol toting Confederate and Nazi flags. Neither Robert E Lee or Hitler ever got that close to America’s altar of democracy.
In both cases MAGA militia in red caps waving blue flags proved that the United States has made no progress at all. Hate, especially racial hate has been simmering all along. Forget that 47 and his GOP are gutting social safety nets and services (Medicaid and FEMA come to mind) that support many of his minions (and the rest of us). Effectively manipulated MAGA enthusiasts proudly, defiantly, swill the poison of grievance.
Planter society would easily recognize this tried and true method of cultural conditioning. Working class whites once again believe they share the same interests as the ruling elite. However, that same elite has no further use for those who elected them. And this resurrected aristocracy doesn’t think much of democracy either. Utah Senator Mike Lee publicly said as much.
The 21st Century rallying cry echoes that of an earlier century. The worst white man is still better than the best man of color. (And I don’t mean Joe Biden.)
And that is how those with little to nothing are schooled to preserve those who have everything.
Gail Chumbley is the author of the two-part memoir River of January, and River of January; Figure Eight. Chumbley has authored three stage plays, Clay, a look at the life of Henry Clay, Wolf By The Ears, an examination of racism and slavery, and Peer Review, where Donald Trump meets four former presidents.
gailchumbley@ymail.com
A radical change in imperial policy between Great Britain and her American Colonies marked the beginning of the Revolutionary Era.
Well before the American Revolution an amiable, and profitable arrangement existed between the Colonials and Parliament. This mutually profitable connection quickly terminated after the French and Indian War, 1754-1763. That conflict, though a victory for the British, had cost the Royal Treasury plenty, and the Crown abandoned friendly relations by coercing Americans to share in settling that war debt .
Parliament began by imposing a number of taxes, all designed to force Americans to pay up. The Sugar Act, Stamp Act, and Townshend Duties, among other measures, had been designed to force Americans to cover the royal debt. Once proud to be British, Colonials were shocked to realize the Crown viewed them as a source of revenue, and nothing more.
Colonials had a long running smuggling network, importing cheaper commodities from the French islands, thus evading British tariffs. Those caught and arrested found fast acquittal by colonial juries of their peers, as locals were also customers of the accused. In Boston, tensions soon turned to bloodshed, followed later with tea spilled into the Harbor. The Crown, not amused, soon forbade traditional trials, and transported accused Americans to military courts, in particular to Nova Scotia. Next, British Red Coats were deployed to the New England colonies to impose martial law, and Parliament decreed American’s had to house and feed their own oppressors.
These matters were met with vehement dissent, Colonials protesting they had no representative in Parliament, and would not tolerate taxation without their consent. “No Taxation Without Representation” and “Resistance to Tyranny is Obedience to God,” rang throughout Colonial America.
Tensions ripened, finally coming to a bloody confrontation in April of 1775, and the rest we mostly remember from school.
Tasked with scribing a Declaration of Independence at the Second Continental Congress, Thomas Jefferson vented American grievances through his quill. Working alone, Jefferson defended the violent actions carried out by Americans, and took pains to explain the radicalism. . . . “a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” And for six years the Continental Army persevered.
In 1787, the subsequent creation and ratification of the U.S. Constitution set an enduring national blueprint of settled law. The Framers designed a government derived from the people, meaning we all are equal, and guaranteed representation in shaping law.
That brings this story to today.
The election of a president from an opposing party is not a radical, nor sudden change of policy. Rather, this cyclic American ritual is as normal as the singing the Star Spangled Banner before a game. American voters have chosen our leaders in this manner since George Washington’s name first appeared on the ballot.
To all of you who attacked our Capitol, it’s well past time for you to catch up. Put away those symbols of rebellion; of coiled snakes, hangmen gallows, and Viking horns. The Revolution ended two and a half centuries ago. The story of America is well underway.
In point of fact, those January 6th insurrectionists themselves attempted a radical change in American tradition. In pursuit of violence and chaos, these terrorists attempted a savage disruption of our deepest democratic traditions. Now that is unAmerican. In point of fact, we all have political representatives, and a right to a jury of our peers, and nary a soldier is found lounging on the couch.
Grow up and stand down.
Gail Chumbley is the author of the two-part memoir “River of January” and “River of January: Figure Eight.”
Chumbley has also penned two plays, “Clay” exploring the life of Henry Clay, and “Wolf By The Ears,” an examination of American slavery and racism.
chumbleg.blog
A video blog. Forgive the quality, but the point is clear.
Gail Chumbley is the author of the two-part memoir “River of January,” and “River of January: Figure Eight.” Both titles available on Kindle. In addition Chumbley has complete two plays, “Clay,” on the life of Senator Henry Clay, and “Wolf By The Ears” exploring the beginnings of racism and slavery.
Gail Chumbley is the author of the two-part memoir, “River of January,” and “River of January: Figure Eight.” Chumbley has written two plays, “Clay,” on the life of Statesman Henry Clay, and “Wolf By The Ears,” on the advent of racism and slavery in America.
Gail Chumbley 