tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post8464546012906968303..comments2024-03-28T12:46:54.004-05:00Comments on Every goddamn day: 03/28/24: Stephen Douglas "despicable" but statue should remainNeil Steinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11468057838260476480noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-84992762363250785562017-09-21T11:22:55.090-05:002017-09-21T11:22:55.090-05:00Neil, Thank you for visiting Bronzeville Historica...Neil, Thank you for visiting Bronzeville Historical Society at Stephen A. Douglas Tomb Site. You have raised the visibility of the little known Society located in an Illinois Historic Preservation Agency site. Many calls and emails have flooded in. Several institutions are proposing a remedy for our need to immediately move. I can not thank you enough for featuring our plight in the news. I do hope conversations continue on the complex and complicated histories of Senator Stephen A. Douglas and the question of slavery. You are the best!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10783115420962318219noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-87990151325846803842017-09-21T11:16:50.092-05:002017-09-21T11:16:50.092-05:00Hello Clark St. The gentleman you are speaking of...Hello Clark St. The gentleman you are speaking of is Mr. Patrick Williams (no relation to Sherry Williams). Mr. Williams died years ago but his family still visits the Douglas Tomb Site regularly. His eldest son came in from California in October. He was outraged by the condition of the site. Mr. Williams began as caretaker at Douglas Tomb Site in 1954. I will pass your compliment to the family.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10783115420962318219noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-91168594911412204662017-09-20T14:22:55.296-05:002017-09-20T14:22:55.296-05:00At first reading I was all set to rant about comme...At first reading I was all set to rant about commercial property real estate managers not knowing navy beans from shinola. It looks like the landlord, The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, is a State of Illinois bureaucracy, probably with decisions being made by political insiders. It's doubtful The Bronzeville Historical Society will be replaced with anything better.Berniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17157600812959885192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-37942234362206028542017-09-20T13:18:57.592-05:002017-09-20T13:18:57.592-05:00Dear Neil,
When my wife and I were down in Clarks...Dear Neil,<br /><br />When my wife and I were down in Clarksdale, Mississippi, a few summers ago, we found something billed as an African American history museum. It was in a small house in a black neighborhood and, just as you said about the Bronzeville museum, it was not the Smithsonian. Instead, it was a remarkable collection of personal and community artifacts curated by and old woman who had grown up in the town. She was sitting with another elderly woman who, we found out, was the widow of a U.S. Army officer who was profiled in a video showing on the TV in the corner. We were invited to sit and watch, so we heard the story of the man who went door to door for the Army, explaining to residents that they would lose their homes to eminent domain because the government needed it for a nuclear test site. <br /><br />The widow left halfway through the video, saying it was "too hard" for her to see her dead husband that day. My wife and I stayed on and had a wonderful conversation with the curator who shared memories about growing up in a Jim Crow town and going to an all black high school. She said, "We didn't know how bad we had it until we read copies of Jet. We just thought it was normal life."<br /><br />So, thanks for sharing your account of this homespun museum and the woman who ran it. I suspect there are hundreds, if not thousands, of these places across the country that preserve the stories that too often go untold.<br /><br />Tom<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01041699650436212666noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-2993203571801817842017-09-20T10:22:26.024-05:002017-09-20T10:22:26.024-05:00I tend to agree with that assessment, Bitter. It&#...I tend to agree with that assessment, Bitter. It's sometimes unfair to judge historical figures because the information we have available is out of context. Lincoln was a better man than Douglas going into the war, but that doesn't mean that Douglas wouldn't have evolved, given the chance. Even Lincoln grew during those years.Tony Galatinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-87741549450565296482017-09-20T09:26:00.716-05:002017-09-20T09:26:00.716-05:00FWIW, my own thinking about Douglas is that he was...FWIW, my own thinking about Douglas is that he was sincere, not evil, but severely misguided. He desperately wanted to avoid civil war and honestly thought the country could survive indefinitely half-slave and half-free. In the end, he lacked the moral clarity and vision of Lincoln. As did most of the rest of humanity.Bitter Scribehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04645909858616987997noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-22080459884438552292017-09-20T00:07:08.990-05:002017-09-20T00:07:08.990-05:00I remember interviews with the caretaker of the Do...I remember interviews with the caretaker of the Douglas monument many years ago. He lovingly maintained the place all alone for a couple of decades & he was black.<br />I'd love to find out his feelings about Douglas, because I don't remember if the interviews went into that.Clark St.https://www.blogger.com/profile/09634234069783123180noreply@blogger.com