What is lost along the way
I’ve been working with a committee from my town of Union to plan the Sestercentennial – 250 years since it’s founding in 1774. We’re going to kick off the celebration this July and throughout the year we’ll have events that will culminate during a three day weekend, July 19-21. I’ve never been a big history buff but I love hearing stories from the past. Those of you who know me know that I love to get people together and celebrate so this is a chance for me to give back to the town that’s been so good to me since my husband and I moved here in 1980.
One of the highlights of the Sestercentennial will be digging up a time capsule that was buried 50 years ago during Union’s Bicentennial celebration. We have a list of items contained in the time capsule (blueberry cake included) that reflect life during the 1970’s. I’m guessing that about half of my blog readers weren’t born yet. We know approximately the location of the time capsule but there are lots of unknowns. Our instructions include “dig it up and rebury it” and it is buried “deep in the ground”. As you can imagine some of what we’re reading is left up to interpretation. With a crowd surrounding the location to watch the digging this could be problematic.
We’re fortunate that the members of our town’s historical society is a great collaborator and that there are many answers to questions well documented in 3 books that are available. We’re partnering with Union Elementary School knowing that this is a great opportunity to bring history alive in a hands-on and engaging manner. More on that in a later blog post.
Because of my work on the Sestercentennial (since September 2022), I’ve wondered about what I’m learning from the past and the accuracy of the information. It’s only as good as the documentation and the stories left behind. This has led me to writing this blog post about the bigger picture and accuracy of history. We know that visual art, music, and plays have documented part of our American history. With so much more attention recently on the white washing of history how do I know if what I’m reading, hearing and/or experiencing is accurate? School text books don’t always contain the truth or the whole story. Checking the sources of what’s on the internet is necessary. I read a piece yesterday about the history of Memorial Day.
This is what I learned:
- Most Americans will say that May 30th is Memorial Day and they understand we take a day to honor servicemen and women, many of who gave their lives while serving our country.
- The first Memorial Day was actually on May 1, 1865 when 10,000 people gathered in Charleston, South Carolina, most of them black and formerly enslaved citizens, to honor slain soldiers from the Civil War. They gathered at an old race track that had been used as a prison to rebury and make a proper cemetery for the U.S. Army soldiers who died. This is according to Pulitzer-Price winning historian David Blight.
- The Civil War was April 12, 1861 – April 9, 1865. General Robert E. Lee of the Confederacy surrendered his army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, Virginia. It was the deadliest war in American history.
I know it can be difficult to find accurate information for students and how necessary it is for students to get the full picture. For this blog post I found information and educational resources at the National Archives, from this story on Medium, a video with Blight speaking about the Civil War and his book Race and Reunion, The Civil War in American Memory at Harvard University Press, and ABC News 7, Charleston. We’re fortunate in Maine to have Americans Who Tell the Truth to use as a resource that has unveiled truths and shared stories about some of our country’s history.
me arts ed 