It's such an intriguing point, but I also worry that we, at times, lost sight of the importance of change over time between Reconstruction and the present. I worry about the many op-eds I have read over the past few years that conclude that basically nothing has changed. There are certainly many lessons to be learned and much of what we are witnessing on the racial front has its roots in Reconstruction.
I think we need more balance. Thanks for the comment, Ken.
The past was put together by a different set of rules than those that shape the present. The ways American society looks at itself have changed, not always but usually for the better. This means, to me, that at something like a national park service site the past should be presented in accordance with the values, customs, traditions, and life ways of the people whose presence on the landscape you are documenting. Where those values, customs, and traditions and life ways have changed I think it is important to point that out as part of interpreting the site.
I think it is important to remember that our interpretation of historic sites is always evolving. The questions we pose and the meaning that our historic sites hold always reflect our current circumstances.
Or has the nation been marking the sesquicentennial of Reconstruction without even knowing it?
It's such an intriguing point, but I also worry that we, at times, lost sight of the importance of change over time between Reconstruction and the present. I worry about the many op-eds I have read over the past few years that conclude that basically nothing has changed. There are certainly many lessons to be learned and much of what we are witnessing on the racial front has its roots in Reconstruction.
I think we need more balance. Thanks for the comment, Ken.
The past was put together by a different set of rules than those that shape the present. The ways American society looks at itself have changed, not always but usually for the better. This means, to me, that at something like a national park service site the past should be presented in accordance with the values, customs, traditions, and life ways of the people whose presence on the landscape you are documenting. Where those values, customs, and traditions and life ways have changed I think it is important to point that out as part of interpreting the site.
I think it is important to remember that our interpretation of historic sites is always evolving. The questions we pose and the meaning that our historic sites hold always reflect our current circumstances.