Being the material culture person I am, I first saw some absolute fantastical farbiness in this image. Looks like some Brazilian General in 1887 or something. But that reminded that this technology is being used for more benign purposes as well. Check a recent Civil War Monitor with Grant and Longstreet all but embracing with Longstreet wearing some bad uniform parts. So that took me to the fact that those type of magazine have been producing photo illustrations and regular illustrations for as long as I can remember. Add to that, see all of the trashy Civil War "art" that uses, pretty obviously, reenactors as models.... and you can always tell they're reenactors because they're just not historically accurate. Hell, I remember a museum gift shop in NC that sold a pencil sketch of HK Egerton as a "Confederate soldier."
Don't know where I'm going with this. Your correspondent has a great point to add to the list of reasons this is bad, but we've been dealing with bad representations of historical people in modern imagery for quite some time. Hell, many of those old CS statues look more like an 1894 dandy wearing a UCV uniform than any photograph of an actual Civil War soldier.
* I love the quotation about expropriated blackness.
* Forgive me if I missed it, but I wonder if you'll be commenting on the new work by former New York Times executive editor Howell Raines, who has pulled together, and added to, research about Alabama's Union soldiers--not Confederate, but Union. As you likely already know, he has a book and he wrote an extensive Washington Post piece about it the other day. The story is sort of a sunny mirror opposite of the false stories--Black Confederates--that you have debunked. For 60 years, Raines has been angry about the omission of his story from national memory. Now he's having his day. Good.
First, thank you so much for upgrading to a paid subscription. I am about halfway through Raines's new book and apart from a few minor quibbles, I am thoroughly enjoying it. The autobiographical thread is really interesting as well as his profiles of folks working in the Alabama Department of Archives. It's well worth your time.
Thanks. Re the autobiographical thread: Just from reading the WP article and seeing him in a TV interview, I gather that it really has been a lifelong issue for him. I know the feeling, sort of, though only 19 years' worth, not 60. I started in on the fate of post-Army Fort Monroe right when the Army in 2005 announced its 2011 retirement--an announcement followed almost immediately by Virginia's shocking but not surprising announcemet of overdevelopment plans for that prime waterfront that was originally Point Comfort, the 1619 place (as you know, but as others might not).
Very glad to hear you're staying. Public historians are more important than ever.
Noting that the AI-generated Confed is not just a solider but an officer!
Thanks for the positive response. I have not seen any significant number of unsubscribes over the past few days, which I very much appreciate.
Yeah, I forgot to mention the rank. It's completely over the top. LOL
Keep up the good work, Dr. Levin!
Thanks, Conor. Please call me Kevin. I don't have a PhD in history.
No problem! Will do! It is a force of habit from a grad student.
Being the material culture person I am, I first saw some absolute fantastical farbiness in this image. Looks like some Brazilian General in 1887 or something. But that reminded that this technology is being used for more benign purposes as well. Check a recent Civil War Monitor with Grant and Longstreet all but embracing with Longstreet wearing some bad uniform parts. So that took me to the fact that those type of magazine have been producing photo illustrations and regular illustrations for as long as I can remember. Add to that, see all of the trashy Civil War "art" that uses, pretty obviously, reenactors as models.... and you can always tell they're reenactors because they're just not historically accurate. Hell, I remember a museum gift shop in NC that sold a pencil sketch of HK Egerton as a "Confederate soldier."
Don't know where I'm going with this. Your correspondent has a great point to add to the list of reasons this is bad, but we've been dealing with bad representations of historical people in modern imagery for quite some time. Hell, many of those old CS statues look more like an 1894 dandy wearing a UCV uniform than any photograph of an actual Civil War soldier.
This is a great point, Chris. It reminds me that the famous photograph of the so-called "First Louisiana Native Guard" first appeared in a magazine in the 1970s. https://medium.com/hindsights/the-case-for-historical-literacy-189fa06afa53
* I love the quotation about expropriated blackness.
* Forgive me if I missed it, but I wonder if you'll be commenting on the new work by former New York Times executive editor Howell Raines, who has pulled together, and added to, research about Alabama's Union soldiers--not Confederate, but Union. As you likely already know, he has a book and he wrote an extensive Washington Post piece about it the other day. The story is sort of a sunny mirror opposite of the false stories--Black Confederates--that you have debunked. For 60 years, Raines has been angry about the omission of his story from national memory. Now he's having his day. Good.
Hi Steven,
First, thank you so much for upgrading to a paid subscription. I am about halfway through Raines's new book and apart from a few minor quibbles, I am thoroughly enjoying it. The autobiographical thread is really interesting as well as his profiles of folks working in the Alabama Department of Archives. It's well worth your time.
Thanks. Re the autobiographical thread: Just from reading the WP article and seeing him in a TV interview, I gather that it really has been a lifelong issue for him. I know the feeling, sort of, though only 19 years' worth, not 60. I started in on the fate of post-Army Fort Monroe right when the Army in 2005 announced its 2011 retirement--an announcement followed almost immediately by Virginia's shocking but not surprising announcemet of overdevelopment plans for that prime waterfront that was originally Point Comfort, the 1619 place (as you know, but as others might not).
You’re staying - HURRAH!!! With a Kepi toss!