In case you’ve missed the news in the last week or so, the state of Georgia is now considering legislation that would make every April officially Confederate History Month, which would include some state approved curriculum aimed at helping students better grasp the Confederate effort.

Predictably, some support such an effort - and some vehemently oppose it.

At the height of the state flag mess in 2001, as the chairman of the state Sons of Confederate Veterans education committee, I proposed to our organization that an effort be made to designate April as a permanent Confederate History Month in our state to give better illumination to what Paul Harvey would call “the rest of the story” in regard to the Southern independence movement.

This year, GHC representatives and others drafted relevant legislation at the request of some members of the state Civil War Commission in order to help prepare Georgians for the looming sesquicentennial of the war, which will be here in four years. Senator Jeff Mullis, born and raised near the Chickamauga battlefield in northwest Georgia, introduced the legislation that went through committee without opposition, and which is poised to be voted upon soon.

So, do we really need a Confederate History Month? It is a valid question, and I feel my personal experience offers a good example to use in answering it.

It has taken much time and effort on my behalf in the last 25 or so years for me to come to a clear and untarnished view of what the Confederate cause was and what it wasn’t. Before that, I admit my take on that important chapter in our national history was almost entirely shaped by what I had learned in school, which is probably where many of you are right now.

And there is nothing wrong with that fact. We cannot possibly learn things to which we aren’t exposed - and like me, most of you have never heard anything regarding this story other than what you learned in school.

My 25 years of learning the deep Confederate story has been enlightening on many fronts. Of course, my view of our regional and national history has changed significantly. But the most surprising part of the journey has been the realization that in 21st century America if you speak out in defense of the Confederacy in any way, you are immediately branded as being intolerant and insensitive. Just read the rant and rave if you don't believe me.

What a sad statement that is about where we are as a society that purports to seek embracing all the stories of our shared culture.

I am a fairly educated man, worldly in my views, don’t look at any individual or group with distaste, and do my best to treat every human being I come in contact with fairly and respectfully. People who know me know very clearly that I hate no one – in fact, I can’t even think of anyone I don’t like.

Yes, I know there are idiots who have used and do use the symbols of the Confederacy for hurtful purposes. I also know of men who beat their wives, and I hope we don’t judge all men by their display of stupidity.

There is much to the Confederate story all of us need to know. Like how out of a population of nearly 11,000 whites at the time of the war, only 163 Thomas Countians were slave owners. Or, how over 60% of the tax revues for the entire United States in 1860 came from the 13 states of the South.

Or, how no Confederate leader was ever brought to trial for treason, as a trial would have brought into clear question a verdict on the legality of the Northern effort to squelch secession – especially cloudy considering earlier secession movements made in the New England states.

Those are just a few of the thousands of historically accurate facts most of us have never heard, much less know, regarding the Confederacy. That kind of information can go a long way toward changing how people view the cause of the Southern people in 1861 – if it is adequately illuminated.

We have museums and months set aside to recognize nearly every other aspect of our national history. That's good. But for some reason, people seem hesitant to come face to face with the story of the Confederacy. If I hadn’t gone on my journey of enlightenment the last 25 years, I more than likely would be counted among those ranks.

If for no other reason, that is why I support the effort by Senator Mullis to try to bring this complex issue into clearer focus. After all, it is the history of every native Southerner in question here, and I just can’t see how learning more about that history could be anything but positive for all of us – even if it might challenge what we thought we knew.

If making April a Confederate History Month here in Georgia will help accomplish that, then I can only hope it will become reality. It is time for us to stop cursing the darkness that surrounds that epochal part of our national story and light some candles instead.

This is our home, and this we are talking about one of the most important parts of our story. If nothing else, it deserves to be treated fairly and respectfully, too.

Copyright © 2007 by Randy Young
randyyoung@mchsi.com, Thomasville, GA