This isn’t the way I planned on introducing my thoughts on Long Branch. I think the place is amazing, and under the new director, Nicholas Redding, has shown growth and incredible potential as a historic site… perhaps even reaching the status as the premier historic site of Clarke County, Virginia. As I’m only about fifteen minutes from the place, I hope to do what I can as a volunteer. I’ll revisit those thoughts in another post.
Long Branch
In the meantime, there appears to be some discussion about a performance planned there scheduled at another plantation, that drew a response (see this post), on the Long Branch blog, by Nicholas.
There are two things that catch my attention in Ani DiFranco’s refusal to come.
First, I noticed that the word “genocide”, was used in the piece in Huffington Post (… and DiFranco uses it on her post as well… see update 2, below) which I find so frequently overused. Slavery is, without a doubt, a subject that reaches to the depths of our souls, yet, I’m afraid that many have become consumed with looking at the subject from only one angle. It, in fact, has a multi-faceted story that often tends to rub us the wrong way. It shouldn’t, and we need to approach this with open minds.
Stairs used by slaves, at Long Branch
Second, I find Nicholas’ remarks spot-on. Perhaps he said it best in this…
Glorification of slavery or an oversimplification of its cruelty is not acceptable. But tossing out all sites that work hard to tell that story in an inclusive and diverse way is equally unacceptable.
As a result of her decision on the event at Nottoway, Long Branch has extended an invitation to DiFranco. Will she reverse her position, and accept, and if so, how can we turn this into a learning experience… one that serves our history and the significance of our historic sites… for all that they are?
*In my haste this morning (I was apparently one cup behind on my coffee intake), I took this as DiFranco turning-down an event at Long Branch, when, in fact, it was at Nottoway Plantation. I’ve since adjusted my post to reflect this.
*Update 2 – For those interested, here are Ani DiFranco’s actual remarks. She does, indeed, use the word “genocide”.
Nicholas Redding
December 31, 2013
Just to be clear — Ani never scheduled a performance here at Long Branch, rather, she was scheduled to perform in Louisiana at a site that was less than honest in its interpretation of the horrors of slavery.
As a rebuttal to those who suggest all plantations are inappropriate locations for such events, we’ve extended Ani an invitation to Long Branch, where we feel we’ve begun the process of confronting our history in an honest and open way.
So, she’s never refused to join us — she’s canceled an event elsewhere and we’re just going out of way to invite her to our neck of the woods in Clarke.
-Nicholas Redding
Robert Moore
December 31, 2013
Thanks, Nicholas. I’ve made a correction that reflects my error. Looking forward to my next visit to Long Branch!
oscmbb64
December 31, 2013
I am going to leave my two comments, made on the facebook site here as well.
1. The two problems here are that we have done such a poor job of teaching our youth history and that as a society we are becoming intolerant of the facts that our history expresses. Ani DiFranco is a product of how these two problems are informing peoples beliefs about history. It is a revisionist and regrettably commonly accepted point of view. The director at Long Branch is absolutely correct in writing to Ani and offering to educate her on how looking at the truth of history makes us a better people and is not discriminating against anyone but rather allowing us to see life as it really was warts and all.
2. Unfortunately our society seems to be incapable of informed discussion on many topics. We have become a society divided by emotional context and there is little call for reasoned decision making. As with our politics the discussion of our history has devolved into two camps. I have come to believe we are divided by our perception of words. In this case the term Genocide seems to figure heavily in Ms. DiFranco’s decision making. Has the term Genocide become just another insidious analogy like those listed by David Hackett Fisher in his monograph “Historian’s Fallacies: toward a Logic of Historical Thought.” Terms like Genocide tend to become distorted over time and with excessive use and therefore fall subject to developing a more metaphorical and generalized meaning. In America today the language we use and the terms we have traditionally applied from that language seem to have a reached a tipping point in the public mind. It is no longer specifically clear what is meant by terms such as Genocide or Racist. These terms are subject to individual interpretation and have no finite meaning. The same could be said of the words Patriot, Christian, or family. Each person thinks his interpretation, formed in the crucible of his own emotional and physical reality, infallible and because interpretations inform our points of view; we see everything through the lens of our generalizations. This is a very Romantic perspective and seems to be a modern day rejection of everything that we hope to pass down through the study of history. I have often over the last 20 years wondered why today’s youth has such a lack of interest in history but, I have begun to think they find it irrelevant because they see history as a dysfunctional mythology rather than the study of actual human behavior.
Robert Moore
December 31, 2013
I think, because there is more potential for folks to actually find their voice in a public venue (social media), we see more examples of how informed discussion has become compromised. Not saying free speech is bad, but there needs to be some responsibility… yes, most especially about being better educated historically. Then too, “being better educated historically” is just as much a loose cannon, and creates another ball of wax altogether.
Also, as I mentioned elsewhere, I have seen (especially in the last decade or so), some radical pendulum swings regarding “historical perspective”. There seem to be a hefty number of folks who like to look at history defined in absolutes. Anyone who studies history long enough knows that this is just bad… really bad… practice. On top of that, as much as even I like to try to feel that sense of attachment to the past, I also have to remove myself… or more accurately, my modern sensibilities. I think we attach to much of ourselves, as we exist today, when we look at the past that is beyond our “historical memory”. We need to remain open-minded and truly give thought to the fact that, back then, they didn’t see things like we do today.
There’s just so much to discuss here.
Donna L. Shrum
December 31, 2013
As an educator, I’ve watched the simplification of education over the years. Born in 1965 in the Shenandoah Valley, I’ve also watched the public perception of the CW change radically as well. The teaching of history has become an increasingly shallow recitation of meaningless facts and dates.
After seeing Twelve Years a Slave, I began reading the book and found that Northrup spoke of the slave master portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch in glowing terms. In the movie, the master was a hypocrite with an unfeeling wife. In the book, Northrup said if he could have had his wife and children with him he would willingly have been his slave all his life. His life as a free black was one of constantly looking for employment to support his family, and this master gave him stability. Introducing a positive portrayal of a white master would have brought far too much complexity to a two-hour movie, Director McQueen seemed to say. It’s also not PC to say that any white master wasn’t a monster. To say that seems to put a stamp of approval on slavery, but I’ve read WPA oral slave histories in which the former slave said life since freedom was hard and he wished he could have remained a slave. My husband compared that to a prisoner in our current penal system sliding back into recidivism upon release because he’s lost the ability to live on his own.
We still struggle with how to talk about slavery, but at least it seems we’re trying. Some are doing it intelligently, as I see here. (:
Robert Moore
January 2, 2014
Thanks for the new follow, Donna, and taking the time to comment. I hope you find the blog informative and engaging!