South vs. North?

[ForeverRoses]

Originally Posted by macallan25

Wow. Where would you get a dress for something like that? Some of them look like debutante type dresses, but most of those look straight out of a movie set.

I guess I don't think much of the whole north versus south thing. I grew up in the midwest but most of my Dad's family is in the south (Alabama, Georgia, and the Florida Panhandle-which my relatives call "LA"- lower Alabama). I never considered myself any better or worse than my "southern" relatives.

[AlexMack]

I have a confession. When we did our Civil War day in 8th grade, they split us up into the Union and the Confederacy. We got hats to wear. I wanted to be confederacy. You guys had way better food! I got stuck in with the Union.
See Rifles for Waitey (sp?) as a reference.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by ForeverRoses

I guess I don't think much of the whole north versus south thing. I grew up in the midwest but most of my Dad's family is in the south (Alabama, Georgia, and the Florida Panhandle-which my relatives call "LA"- lower Alabama). I never considered myself any better or worse than my "southern" relatives.

Don't worry, neither do I, and I've grown up/went to school/lived in New England my whole life. If you look on this board, you'll see criticisms come on both sides (North criticizing South, South criticizing North), so I don't think anyone can say that one side is more guilty than the other.

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

Don't worry, neither do I, and I've grown up/went to school/lived in New England my whole life. If you look on this board, you'll see criticisms come on both sides (North criticizing South, South criticizing North), so I don't think anyone can say that one side is more guilty than the other.

I sincerely doubt that there would be ANY country or group of people who claim a perfectly moral high ground. And as a genealogist, I feel that everyone should have pride in their ancestory to the extent that it's DNA, not something the descendant did. I had ancestors on both sides - it would be silly for me to claim one over the other.

BTW, Love your signature!

[shinerbock]

LA= lower alabama, my family does this too.

[IvySpice]

My ancestors owned slaves at a time when it was an accepted practice. Slavery was wrong, it was abolished, and that's that. More important than trying to make me feel guilty about the way society was 150 years ago is to focus on what can be done TODAY.

But they sacrificed to protect their land at a time when THAT was an accepted practice. They were chivalrous at a time when THAT was an accepted practice. Are you proud of that? How come there's no "that's that" about their sacrifice and chivalry?

Re shameful parts of MLK's life, yes, we should try to understand the whole picture of an individual if we're doing a biographical analysis. If you're studying the whole civil rights movement, though, MLK's private life really didn't play much of a role, especially since it wasn't publicized at the time. It's a very poor comparison to the role of slavery in the antebellum South (foundation of the economy, greatest concentration of wealth, preserved permanently in the Confederate Constitution, etc.).

[Elephant Walk]

Or maybe that his name isn't really Martin Luther to start off with, it's Micheal, he never had it legally changed.

[SWTXBelle]

My family has throughout its history fought to protect their country - from my Revolutionary War ancestors to my father, a former Air Force pilot and CIA operative, and brother the former Marine. Soooo . ..I take pride in that because it is a tradition that has continued to the present day. It is not just something enshrined in the past - it is a continuing defining characteristic of my family.
My family is still well-mannered - again, a family tradition that is of long standing. I take pride in those traditions that have been handed down through the generations and are still practiced.
We don't own slaves today, so why would I feel guilty for something we don't practice? For that matter, the majority of those who joined and founght for the Confederacy didn't own slaves. They did, however, believe in the concept of state's rights. They did believe in the words of the Declaration of Independence and the concept of consent of the governed. Virginia, for example, explicitly retained upon joining the Union the right to secede. Why should I feel guilty when they chose to exercise their right to do so? And more to the point, why is it so important to make me feel guilty? So you can feel somehow superior and self-righteous?
No thanks - I'm opting out. There will always be those who want to castigate the South and I fear that there is nothing that can be logically argued to those who wish to do so. I'm following St. Augustine's sage advice.

[banditone]

My family fought to keep all you whitey's the hell outta our country, but your smallpox infested blankets brought us down

[macallan25]

Originally Posted by banditone

My family fought to keep all you whitey's the hell outta our country, but your smallpox infested blankets brought us down

....that and whiskey.

[Tom Earp]

Originally Posted by banditone

My family fought to keep all you whitey's the hell outta our country, but your smallpox infested blankets brought us down

Good point

But, keep the faith!