When I was in high school (around 1993-94) a friend of mine and I went on a Civil War battlefield tour over the summer. We went to most of the major battlefields and other sites from Maryland to Georgia on out to Mississippi Tennessee and Kentucky etc. While in the Memphis area my friend wanted to meet Shelby Foote and looked his name up in the phone book and called him. He offered to take Shelby out for dinner, the offer was declined so we never met him. But I always thought it was cool my friend got to talk to him on the phone and invite him to dinner lol.
In summer of 1983, I helped my retired English Literature professor (Joe Davis) move to a modest apartment off of Highland Ave in Memphis after his divorce. Joe Davis and Shelby Foote were friends. We talked about William Faulkner, writing and politics. They were in their 60s and I was just a foolish twenty year old. College kid. After the move we had a cold beer in Professor Davis’ unorganized new kitchen, and all I wanted to do was finish my beer and leave. I had no idea that I was having a beer with a descendant of Jefferson Davis and Shelby Foote, an unknown historian back then. I only saw two lonely old men…I will never forget my youthful ignorance. I only wish I could relive that day again.
@@cuchulain1647 thanks, but I relive that 4-5 hour in 1983 ever couple of months. Professor Davis was one of my favorite professors at Memphis State and many times Davis and Foote tired to include me in events like grabbing dinner at a local pub or just a beer, and I always had an excuse. Joe Davis asked me to organize a spotlight on local authors and one was a young attorney named John Grisham. This is before anyone even heard of him. I was at the perfect location at the perfect time in history and didn’t even know it…crazy world.
Shelby Foote had a brilliant mind and a wonderful speaking voice. If he were still alive today he would he would say " The American history taught today is not what it use to be ". He was a true southern gentleman and his wisdom is greatly missed.
As Foote was very poorly read in the broader history of his own period, I doubt he’d have the first clue about how history was being written or taught in this or any other era.
Me too. Not only does he have plenty to talk about, but there is something musical about the rhythm and modulations of his voice which brings me to listen with greater care.
Wow is his voice needed today in times when "Arousals of bitterness" are everywhere. One of the reasons we are so divisive is because people like Dr. Foote aren't getting a voice now.
When people come down here and tell us how backwards we are, oh crappy our schools are, that this sucks and that sucks.... You do not want to welcome them. They come down here and take our jobs... They come down here and demand changes be made for things to be like they were where they come from... Then we find ourselves with things like Second Mortgages that we did not have until the late 90's because they cannot manage their finances... They introduce laws that hurt our economy. They introduce laws that do not allow us access to the courts... And these are just a few of the things they do. And then of course they have to tell us how racists we are, that we are all members of the Klan, that we are all pro slavery and so on. So then why do they come down here? If things are so so perfect where they come from, then why did they leave? Yes..these are things we really deal with. How crude and rude.
It should be illegal to hide history in this country it belongs to all of us not just a few that thinks it’s theirs and they’ll decide what we know about it. That’s communism. Hell no.
@@petermcclenaghan2254 Having a Honors Degree in Political Science. A Doctorate in Law. And being a Civil War Historian who has read book after book, done thousands of hours of research and visited many of the Battle Fields. Having tried civil rights cases. And spending hundrends of hours talking to Civil Rights lawyers. I could not disagree more. He is educated and very articulate. But the substance of what he says "flaunts" gross bias. Another Old South self and enabler of others.
@@petermcclenaghan2254 My ex wife comes from the old south. Know the criminal, thieving, ultra dishonest, ultra selfish, murderous culture well. As acclaimed historical writer Eric Foner wrote in the story of American Freedom the Old South and its racist, one way mentality has held this country back hundreds of years. I could not agree with him more.
How amazing was this man I almost cried to find out he had passed so much rich and amazing knowledge of exactly how America came to be the country it is today. I am not American but I think through listening to this man speak about just what made America , America . I am educated enough to say yeah that civil war was if not the , then a greatest defining moment in their history. I've watched that civil war documentary about 6 times now and reguardless of the causes . This historical war time was so courageously and with such great skill on all rank levels there is nothing else to do but admire such an defining moment in time
@@johnwhite2576 I think it's everywhere, just seems to be human nature. When I say nothing brings people together like the love of Jesus Christ, it makes some people angry. I think that is absolutely heartbreaking.
@@billymule961 So then, living here in Texas, please explain to me how the "Christians" came here, and force the Indians into being slaves, took their lands and if they did not accept "jesus" they just killed them?
Shelby Foote had one of those voices that captivate me, much like James Earl Jones, Morgan Freeman, or Sam Elliot. I’ve spent a lot of time in Mississippi, even Footes’s home of Greenville, and his voice does not have the typical Mississippi Southern drawl that one might suppose.
Bob Helmig - It is too bad that he is talking nonsense .It is just another variation of the " Lost Cause" fairy tale embraced by so many southerners to make themselves feel better , after their humiliating loss . It is frightening that this guy was considered an historian .
Bill Eddy Yeah I guess that’s why Random House the best publisher in New York has him setting on their board to choose the books for their library. lol and owned by a big Yankee Bennett Curf. Who brought Ulysses by James Joyce to America when people like you thought he was nonsense too lol hahahahaha oh I’m gagging on that one. I’m rolling on the floor. Try to research people before you make a fool out of yourself.
@@billeddy4357 Wrong: Mr Foote very clearly stated that he felt that the South never had a chance to win the war; that the North fought the war with one hand behind its back. What he presents in his work is the WHY and How that war was fought by both sides. Had you read all three volumes of his CW histories you would know that the lost cause fairy tale was never part of his considerations. That man worked on those books from 1951 to 1974 and you may rest assured he did due diligence in presenting the history from both sides. .... but I doubt you actually care...
I agree with Mr Foote-- sadly this problem is everywhere....the Taliban defaced and destroyed alot of ancient religious shrines and statutes in Afghanistan which are contrary to their beliefs.
1:45: yes, the South fought bravely for a cause in which it believed. HOWEVER. That cause was the continued ‘right’ to enslave human beings due to the color of their skin. AND they committed insurrection and treason in order to make that fight. In fact, slavery was LEGAL in those states and territories, with no immediate threat of being ended, at the moment the South rose up in insurrection!! So it is an outright falsehood to claim the South fought to protect what it already had. What the South was fighting for was the ability to EXPAND slavery into new territories. That first shot fired toward Fort Sumter was not fired as a final desperate attempt to preserve slavery in South Carolina. It was fired as the first shot in bringing slavery to Arizona, California, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah.
I don’t agree w him on every single thing he thought/said, but he wasn’t a racist. He was part Jewish on his mother’s side and was a supporter of the civil rights movement in the 50s 60s and 70s
@@chadinmich1 . . . & he said that, had he lived at the time of the Civil War, he would have supported the slave-owning Confederacy. Now THAT is a confused citizen!
@@maltesetony9030 No, simply a realistic one. If _you_ had lived at the time of the Civil War as a southerner, you would almost certainly have supported the slave-owning Confederacy. People flatter themselves that if they had been at a particular time when something morally wrong like slavery existed, they would somehow have separated themselves from literally almost every other member of that society, and seen things differently. Undeceive yourself. It is overwhelmingly likely that you would have gone along with the herd. If you had been around then, you would have been raised with the attitudes and sensibilities and views of your friends and family around you, and you would have soaked up all the same rationalizations and justifications they had during your upbringing. It takes an exceptional individual to break away from all that and go his own way, especially on an issue that will see him ostracized for having different views.
@@Hibernicus1968 I took Foote to mean that, had he lived at the time of the Civil War, he would have supported the South because his loyalty to the South overrides (even now) any objections he has to slavery. If he means what you say he means, and for the reason you gives, then he could have made that a little clearer!
“Blacks don’t want to be reminded of that history”. Gee, I wonder why? If I were black, I’d be pretty raw about walking past statues in my town built for men that fought to have my ancestors enslvaved and owned as property. It seems to me that one group didn’t get much say in “The Great Compromise”.
I have to respectfully disagree with the great Shelby Foote. Full disclosure, I was born & raised in New York. I lived in the South for about 20 years & when the Confederate Monument debate was at it's peak, I lost many friends, due to my opinion that any Confederate memorabilia should not be displayed in pubic, and should be relegated to museums, in much he same way that Holocaust museums exist in Germany. I could never understand why equating the Confederacy & the Institution of Slavery was not a fair comparison. No Nazi symbols are allowed in the public domain in Germany. Even the graves of many high ranking Nazi officials are unmarked to deter them from becoming gathering spots for Neo-Nazis. Yet in the South, symbols of treason & racism are not only proudly displayed, but revered as ''Southern Pride'' I don't, for a second, buy the excuse that they serve as a reminder of past discretions, to never be repeated, completely at odds with the current mindset. that teaching school children about Slavery will cause them to hate their country. That is utter nonsense & nothing more than pandering to the ''racist'' voters. When the same school children finally learn of the History that is being withheld from them, I believe that they will be angered by what can only be defined as ''whitewashing', no pun intended, of a significant part of their own History.
Here here!! Fascinating how the late Mr. Foote wanted his black American friends to embrace the historical hardship of their past as his Jewish friends had done; to reach a place of 'pride' in their struggle and perseverance. Having little direct experience himself, Shelby wasn't aware that the 'pride' part of the story always came after the pages outlining and describing the complete and thorough defeat of the groups' nemesis. I believe Shelby himself would agree that right now, today, very little if anything can be said about the south's thorough and complete defeat. He might even go so far as to suggest black Americans really had no nemesis in the south, as slavery really wasn't all that bad!
What would Shelby think of today's vilification of all things Southern? From tearing down monuments by mobs and politicians. It starts with Confederate Generals, but it will not end here with solely destroying these monuments. Already Thomas Jefferson has been targeted for removal for being problematic! The constant drumroll of holding up men and actions in the past guilty with the current morals and politically correct standards of the children of the present.
When we revise our history as we are doing today, we lose the lessons learned and therefore we are destined to repeat those same mistakes again. I think Shelby Foote would agree. RIP Mr. Foote.
As a native southerner I would have appreciated the opportunity to tell Mr. Foote to his face what utter swill this is. It was the South of the Jim Crow era that betrayed the "great compromise".
As a fellow American I want to say I appreciate your stated position on this comment thread. Our country needed (and still does need) Americans like you for proper post-civil war healing and a better future moving forward today.
It's more like Not-Slavery good, Slavery Bad. Anyone trying to preserve slavery -- BAD. It's well spoken and seemingly reasonable historians like Shelby Foote who have prevented us from seeing the truth right under our eyes. The Union won the war but the South won the peace and did everything they could to restore a semblance of their prewar life.
I lived in Louisiana for nine years, I really got tired of being called a "yankee" in not so pleasant terms. If I had died there, my tombstone would have "yankee" on it.
Southern whites think strangely. Blacks didn’t ask to be in this horrible country where we have enjoyed all manner of abuse at their hands. GOD has got to do a better job of justice.
I just bought his Civil War book(Vol1). It's really fascinating and I already ordered the next two. I've also read McPherson's "Battle Cry of Freedom".. I liked it, altough it was a little boring. Shelby Foote really captures the spirit of that particular era.
He also accused her of hiding from history. I'll wager black Americans from Reconstruction until the year I was born did a lot more hiding from lynch mobs than from history. Ask Emmett Till's kin. When someone asserts that the Civil War wasn't about slavery, who's hiding history from who?
Ersatz compromises and synthetic agreements have a very short half-life indeed. Really now, the north must "openly and freely admit the south fought bravely for a cause it believed in". That statement could be used to justify every single conflict in the worlds' written history, you must know that not all wars are justifiable.
it is from an interview with Brian Lamb from a C Span book review. In the CZcams Browser, type Foote, Lamb, Course of Their Stars. An hour long interview from which this clip was extracted.
One thing I notice in comments about the South is that people seem to view the south as home of the racist. The North to a smaller extent had in is history had slavery. The Racial attitudes against non whites existed in the North and later even into the wester territories. Why do think the American Indians were shot up and caroused on reservations following the civil war? The North who was so concerned with the rights of blacks( I’m being facetious) did not seem concerned for the rights of the red man. So the South good North bad concept needs to be challenged. It is taught by professors who know little history by their professors who knew less.
Exactly, many slaves in original colonies, owned by many framers, slavery was not a north south thing, both had them, it was the law at the time, funny thing is Blacks vote for democrats who championed slavery , wanted to get into constitution, and wanted slavery in western expanse. Yer they still vote for them today, even after 100 years of Jim Crow in south. Crazy, guess Bloomberg was right, Dems keep poor poor, uneducated, unemployed. Thing was north got more industrial and agricultural waned so slave usage fell off, but before 1860, before north and south, America had slaves, and many cultures had slaves for thousands of years before. And slavery still exits today,, in Africa, Middle East , Asia. One would think black America would be worlds anti slavery hero’s, but guess they got thier freedom, screw rest of world
The difference was that the North by the Civil War, had 8 slaves waiting to die off, and more importantly afterwards segregation was not made part of the basic laws.
Good point. Look at what all those Good Old Northern, Midwestern and Western folk did in places like Guatemala, Hawaii and the Philippines. Wage slavery remains real to this day.
I greatly admire Shelby Foote's telling of the Civil War. But none of us are infallible. The harm of slavery is still with us and the path forward necessitates a wider conversation.
History should never be forgotten, or misrepresented. Slavery, and the genocide of the Native Population, is more American, than Apple Pie! As the European Jews, would say: "NEVER FORGET"!!!!
@@benjaminpease5297 NEVER FORGET, but this white washed, rewritten history needs to be rewritten the right way. We can take it, we stole land, then held slaves, we weren't nice. The lost cause is a lie. I'm disappointed in Shelby's answer.
@@JimmyG415 So then you buy into the Northern Myth that the US Civil War was fought to end slavery? it was not. It was fought to reunify the country. Yes the expansion of slavery, states rights and also taxes were just some of the contributing factors that lead to the war. So therefore, the Northern Myth that the war was to end slavery is therefore a LIE as well.
@@evinchester7820 The South seceded because they felt (wrongly) the institution of slavery was threatened by the election of Lincoln. Lincoln when to war to keep the country unified. During the course of the war, he made the ending of slavery a major goal.
I see nothing wrong with putting Confederate monuments in historical museums, along with Battle flags and even Klan costumes. Museums neutralize history by providing places where something that might inspire evil acts can be placed in a context in which that evil is displayed alongside the artifact.
Just about any historical monument /statue has some dirt on it. WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Revolutionary War, Lincoln, Ghandi,etc. Evil is relative. Should we tear them all down?
@@billmitchell1955 "A little dirt" is a mild description of slavery. Remember that in 1861, every other civilized country but Brazil outlawed slavery. Even Russia was about to abolish serfdom.
The purpose of history is not to expose "the absurdity of hate", but rather to reveal the culture, politics, economy, and other aspects of society at the time. That is why one studying should read primary sources from people and institutions of the time. Secondarily, these sources may serve as a comparison to other political or economic conclusions or regions or even within regions. Your comment parrots talking points, which both camps employ, in assessing any issue, contemporary or past. Worst of all, you and so many others study past issues through what you deem "enlightened" knowledge today. Unfortunately, people of your ilk outnumber thise who study history as intended.
@@chrismaurer2075 that does not mean anything. Andersonville prisoners had 29% mortality. Camp Douglas had less despite fact many of the Rebel prisoners were already sick from the lousy rations they got as soldiers in the Rebel army.
Yankees would be treated with more regard if they would appreciate the Southern way and the reasons things are done the way they are. A good, even great, read regarding this subject is " The Mind of the South" W.J. Cash If you do not respect the South and refuse to try and understand her past and her priorities stay the hell up North...if already here I-95 Northbound beckons...
I don’t think old Shelbs has quite captured the black point of view. It’s a little different from what he is saying it is. And as someone else here has written, this “Compromise” idea doesn’t really take the views of African Americans into account.
I don't find this statement to be true at all. At least not with sensible people in my age group. Even in re-enactment groups a lot of the Northern guys used to want to get to be a Southerner. Now sure they will poke at each other just to get a rise but it's mostly done in good fun.
@@indomitusveritas9838 Well , in this case the LOSERS did write the history books . That " Lost Cause' nonsense came out of the south and got wide acceptance. Jefferson Davis , Alexander Stephens , Robert E. Lee , Jubal Early , Edward Pollard and Thomas Dixon concocted that ridiculous fantasy to serve as a bedtime fairy tale for the hurt feelings of the losing side.
@@billeddy4357 I've never read more nonsense in three sentences in my entire life. By the way I don't remember mentioning the "Lost Cause" story-line in my posting. However, if you want to discuss a story-line; where real facts are no longer mentioned in today's revisionist society, why don't we discuss the war crimes committed by Sherman and Grant, specifically the scorched earth policy, executing civilians and bombing of civilians in Atlanta and Richmond just to name two well-known cities? Why don't we discuss the fact that the North claims that the war was fought to end slavery BUT slaves were still held in physical servitude DURING the war in NORTHERN states! This only ended in 1863, almost three years into the war, with Lincolns proclamation of emancipation. Why don't we also discuss the fact that the supreme court only ruled officially that the south did not have legal right to secede from the American Union until - again - almost three years into the conflict, and this by a minority decision. Atrox melior dulcissima veritas mendaciis!
@@indomitusveritas9838 You do have trouble staying on topic , don`t you ? Well , logic and rational thinking are not for everybody . You said that the winners write history . I pointed out that in this case , the LOSERS wrote the history . Then , you decided that since I criticized the south for its lies , that you would counter by criticizing the north for its bad behavior . Go right ahead . Why would I defend poor behavior by the north ? Unlike you , I am not trying to tiptoe around the truth . The motives of the north are irrelevant . The south seceded over the issue of slavery . The 1861 Letters of Secession clearly state that . The words" slave " and " slavery " show up again and again . The north fought to prevent the south from seceding . Since the south was seceding over slavery , the war was fought over slavery .( At least it started over slavery . )
@@billeddy4357 Icarus you are flying to close to the sun, egotistical hyperbole will destroy you since your rambling lacks any factual foundation. You are playing word salad and deflecting (e.g. northern slavery during the war) from my rebuttal of your nonsensical remark over the lost cause, which absolutely can not be back-engineered to the southern gentlemen you named. As "for the motives being irrelevant" this sentence is not only grammatically, but also syntactically, fluctuating around the third grade level of basic illiteracy. Of course ONE of the reasons for the war of northern aggression (there was nothing civil about it) dealt with slavery, but it was not the DEFINITIVE reason! Here is where the real revisionist fingerprint can be found. It was a war of a states sovereignty within their own geographical boundaries, it was a war to secure individual representation versus subjugation to a federal entity, it was a war of independence from unwanted governance. An example can be seen in the case of Florida; Florida entered the American union in 1845 through civil voter ratification, and this was applauded by the union, however in 1861, just 16 years later, Florida seceded from the Union through - AGAIN - civil voter ratification, but this was outlawed by the federal government in DC, a bit hypocritical to say the very least. Your last sentence proves my point in six words, "At least it started over slavery", if slavery was the moral encompassing reason to fight a war then why did slavery legally exist in NORTHERN states during the war?
THAT'S not it; Black people in the US worry about the bad times happening AGAIN and much of the ugly racist behavior is just hidden from sight, or muted. What do you suppose that they are demonstrating for? I agree with Mr Foote about the way that things were; it's taken this long to get the people in Dixie to believe they've done wrong, let alone try and stop it. The rest of the grown-up message is: we're not done yet. We have a lot of people to convince yet, and the institutional inertia has to be searched out and changed properly - NO band-aid fixes good until the next election.
The great compromise, as Shelby understands it, is unacceptable. It may have been a steppingstone 100 years ago but in today’s world the concept is nonsense.
That's just your personal opinion, highly subjective and open to broad interpretation, such as it is--The Great Compromiss is unacceptable to YOU, Mister Knows Better Than Everyone Else. Congratulations. Now R-E-L-A-X 🤣🤣🤣
@@LittleLouieLagazza Strange how this compromise, in Mr. Foote's subjective description, involved concessions that in no letter, word, hint or rumor, referenced the single most divisive element at the core of the dispute, African slavery. That isn't an interpretation, it's objective fact. Then, in the same breath used to offer concessions that read as if the enslavement of black Americans had nothing to do with the dispute, he waxes regret that his black American friends don't subscribe to it. He's befuddled by their hostility toward Confederate symbols and calls this hostility a 'violation of the compromise'. The same compromise that in every, single percent of one hundred, ignores black Americans and all their suffering and struggling from slavery to Appomattox to Reconstruction and decades beyond. How can anyone fail to understand a black American's distaste for embracing an ancestorial, historical past of slavery, while trying to survive the most systemically racist social environment ever established?
Shelby Foote has some Jewish heritage on his mother's side. The 'great compromise" has certainly been lost at this juncture with confederate statutes being torn down across the country and with the proposed renaming of military bases (e.g. Fort Bragg).
kmslegal----Braxton Bragg was a General of questionable skills and maturity who was universally disliked by superiors and subordinates. On one occasion , his own men tried to murder him . In January 1864, the war was not going well for the south . General Patrick Cleburne suggested arming blacks . He said , " The half trained blacks who are fighting against us for the Union, fight as well as the half trained whites who are fighting against us for the Union ." Bragg called his suggestion ," Treasonous."
You can take the man out of the south but you can't take the south out of the man. The true is it was not a war between the states it was a war of the United States against the Confederacy a declared foreign country-rebels.
I don’t accept his comparison. If we took it to it’s logical conclusion, he’s saying that black people don’t want to see the confederate symbol but the Jews are very different - by which he means Jews would prefer to see nazi symbols on things? In what world is that remotely true??
He is completely wrong on so many stages. The direct comparison would be if the Germany of now still had a great aura of Nazis, felt proud of their Nazi heritage and still treated Jews as a second class segregated citizen on some parts. Then when those Nazis bringing "Holocaust" up wouldn't be something they would really enjoy to hear.
I am admittedly Caucasian but I have discussed this with my friends of color. They don’t want it because slavery isn’t over. Once it’s over, maybe they can celebrate coming out the other side.
There was no compromise. What is was was a bunch of cowards surrendering to be able to return home. From home they continued to pass along their yellow blood.
snortingkittens Peoples’ blood lines originate somewhere and they can’t all be grade A and red blooded American. Sometimes we have to tolerate yellow bellies, because they’re too weak to win.
But they were and hiding that from your children is wrong it's your history one that you have over come. That is his point. I'm Irish Catholic my ancestors were persecuted in English by the British and the Orange. Then when they came here they ran into the same thing. I know it wasn't slavery but it was economic suppression. We don't run from it he don't demand the destruction of the past or restitution.
Aren't there riots in the shankill in Dublin every year william the orange is celebrated? I foret what annual holiday it is. Seems like no one forgets they were spit/shit on!
Mr. Tuohy, who is unable to resist typing vulgarities, has evidently never experienced the lilting charm and soothing spirit of the American Southern drawl, a sub-dialect unto itself. Or if he has, his soul is immune to its delightful witchery. He thinks it is merely an affectation. Here is a short primer for such as him, the less fortunate who cannot lay claim to the affirmation: "American by birth and Southern by the grace of God". czcams.com/video/tMkhax8LYn8/video.html
His rose colored view of the south just ruins any chance I would believe him. If he can't say the south was a horrid racist society that had no good intentions for mankind? Then I would listen to his chuckles over some southern ways...as stupid.
A violation of a “compromise” that he himself has declared. He was a wonderful scholar and I cherish him, BUT “an arousal of bitterness”. Wow, he has determined when we should put the “bitterness” away. He has devised a world that does not exist. “Why should anyone be bitter now? “ is implied by that remark. I yearn for that world when we can put the bitterness away, and it will be a long road from here, when we put the bitterness away. BLM
he is the one that gives me nightmares to this day because the way they did these films of his his mouth has no teeth--only a coal black tomb--quite scary and creepy they should have changed the film method because in other videos of him there are glimpses of lower teeth.
I regret not having the opportunity to personally meet this gentleman. What a treasure!
When I was in high school (around 1993-94) a friend of mine and I went on a Civil War battlefield tour over the summer. We went to most of the major battlefields and other sites from Maryland to Georgia on out to Mississippi Tennessee and Kentucky etc.
While in the Memphis area my friend wanted to meet Shelby Foote and looked his name up in the phone book and called him. He offered to take Shelby out for dinner, the offer was declined so we never met him. But I always thought it was cool my friend got to talk to him on the phone and invite him to dinner lol.
I met this great man before his passing. He was a true gentleman.
In summer of 1983, I helped my retired English Literature professor (Joe Davis) move to a modest apartment off of Highland Ave in Memphis after his divorce. Joe Davis and Shelby Foote were friends. We talked about William Faulkner, writing and politics. They were in their 60s and I was just a foolish twenty year old. College kid. After the move we had a cold beer in Professor Davis’ unorganized new kitchen, and all I wanted to do was finish my beer and leave. I had no idea that I was having a beer with a descendant of Jefferson Davis and Shelby Foote, an unknown historian back then. I only saw two lonely old men…I will never forget my youthful ignorance. I only wish I could relive that day again.
Not your fault bro, you were just young
@@cuchulain1647 thanks, but I relive that 4-5 hour in 1983 ever couple of months. Professor Davis was one of my favorite professors at Memphis State and many times Davis and Foote tired to include me in events like grabbing dinner at a local pub or just a beer, and I always had an excuse. Joe Davis asked me to organize a spotlight on local authors and one was a young attorney named John Grisham. This is before anyone even heard of him. I was at the perfect location at the perfect time in history and didn’t even know it…crazy world.
Shelby Foote had a brilliant mind and a wonderful speaking voice. If he were still alive today he would he would say " The American history taught today is not what it use to be ". He was a true southern gentleman and his wisdom is greatly missed.
As Foote was very poorly read in the broader history of his own period, I doubt he’d have the first clue about how history was being written or taught in this or any other era.
Foote had a big part in spreading the Lost Cause myth which is taught in many schools today. So there’s that…
Brilliant author. I still enjoy his work on the Civil War.
Shelby could read the ingredients off of a ketchup label and I'd find it's interesting.
You got that’s right!!! No one speaks like him. I want him to read me books at night.
Best apology I’ve read so far.
Lol same
Thankfully, he can’t see how far we’ve come since ‘94 (when this interview was made).
How far backward we’ve come thanks to half-white Obama and his wife, big Mike.
AMEN TO THAT !
I could listen to this man for hours.
Granny Loca Same here.
Me too. Not only does he have plenty to talk about, but there is something musical about the rhythm and modulations of his voice which brings me to listen with greater care.
Yeah, those dulcet tones... Nobody ever made the evil myth of the Lost Cause sounds so angelic.
Shame he talked horseshit.
Me too.
“She has every right to hide from history, but it seems to me she’s trying to hide history from us.
And that’s a mistake.”
instaBlaster
Exactly what is happening today.
That man’s voice is mesmerizing! I just loved Shelby Foote!!
Honey toned bullshit.
Rest in peace Shelby!
I miss you beyond words! So glad you where born! I'd enjoy your wisdom on the state of America today!!
Fair Winds Sir!
Wow is his voice needed today in times when "Arousals of bitterness" are everywhere. One of the reasons we are so divisive is because people like Dr. Foote aren't getting a voice now.
Sadly he has been dead for some time now and there are precious few people like him around anymore.
Shelby foote would be considered a WS right now. No matter what he says , ppl are so conditioned by msm .
@@PreacherLevi you are 100% correct...and that is a damn shame because Mr. Foote was a wise man.
Yup. He’s missed when his voice is so much needed.
when my cousin moved to Texas, they had not been welcomed so they returned to Ann Arbor near Detroit. Shelby is a great guy so I shall read his books.
When people come down here and tell us how backwards we are, oh crappy our schools are, that this sucks and that sucks....
You do not want to welcome them.
They come down here and take our jobs...
They come down here and demand changes be made for things to be like they were where they come from...
Then we find ourselves with things like Second Mortgages that we did not have until the late 90's because they cannot manage their finances...
They introduce laws that hurt our economy.
They introduce laws that do not allow us access to the courts...
And these are just a few of the things they do.
And then of course they have to tell us how racists we are, that we are all members of the Klan, that we are all pro slavery and so on.
So then why do they come down here?
If things are so so perfect where they come from, then why did they leave?
Yes..these are things we really deal with.
How crude and rude.
What a great mind you are Mr.Foote! I totally admire you! ❤
a wonderful writer but his great gift was the speaking gift
I moved from Pa. to Mississippi in 1982 and was often called “nothing but a damn Yankee” by southerners. It was an awful yet eye-opening experience.
An amazing historian and speaker 🥰
Time passes. History gets revised.
@@wardfrancesphd2142 UDC and Lost Cause will probably not go away.
EMBELLISHED is probably a more accurate term 😏
If you want to hide from history, fine. Don't hide history from others.
It should be illegal to hide history in this country it belongs to all of us not just a few that thinks it’s theirs and they’ll decide what we know about it. That’s communism. Hell no.
I have never listened to this man and not come away feeling somehow enlightened! You sir are missed in this day and age!
I agree. His was one of the most thoughtful voices regarding history that this country has ever known.
He is a southerner and flaunts it with his views.
@@ronmattie3708 Yes, he is a "southerner" and as such so are his views! However I wouldn't say he "flaunts" anything!
@@petermcclenaghan2254 Having a Honors Degree in Political Science. A Doctorate in Law. And being a Civil War Historian who has read book after book, done thousands of hours of research and visited many of the Battle Fields. Having tried civil rights cases. And spending hundrends of hours talking to Civil Rights lawyers. I could not disagree more. He is educated and very articulate. But the substance of what he says "flaunts" gross bias. Another Old South self and enabler of others.
@@petermcclenaghan2254 My ex wife comes from the old south. Know the criminal, thieving, ultra dishonest, ultra selfish, murderous culture well. As acclaimed historical writer Eric Foner wrote in the story of American Freedom the Old South and its racist, one way mentality has held this country back hundreds of years. I could not agree with him more.
If only Shelby were alive today, his voice is so needed. Then again, the destruction of history and broken compromise would probably break his heart.
lonewulf44 Shelby Foote is a revisionist
How amazing was this man I almost cried to find out he had passed so much rich and amazing knowledge of exactly how America came to be the country it is today. I am not American but I think through listening to this man speak about just what made America , America . I am educated enough to say yeah that civil war was if not the , then a greatest defining moment in their history. I've watched that civil war documentary about 6 times now and reguardless of the causes . This historical war time was so courageously and with such great skill on all rank levels there is nothing else to do but admire such an defining moment in time
Preston M...a huge one too.
lonewulf44...did Mr Foote juste compare holocaust memorials to confederate monuments??
@@wardfrancesphd2142 just like the Nazis?
The American Civil War has got to be one of the longest conflicts in history. Still going on for almost 160 years, and still people won't let it end.
Deo Vindice.
@@indomitusveritas9838 Amen
Yes, it reminds one how deeply racism is embedded in the american “experiment” Doesn’t it ? Sad
@@johnwhite2576 I think it's everywhere, just seems to be human nature. When I say nothing brings people together like the love of Jesus Christ, it makes some people angry. I think that is absolutely heartbreaking.
@@billymule961 So then, living here in Texas, please explain to me how the "Christians" came here, and force the Indians into being slaves, took their lands and if they did not accept "jesus" they just killed them?
Shelby Foote had one of those voices that captivate me, much like James Earl Jones, Morgan Freeman, or Sam Elliot. I’ve spent a lot of time in Mississippi, even Footes’s home of Greenville, and his voice does not have the typical Mississippi Southern drawl that one might suppose.
Bob Helmig - It is too bad that he is talking nonsense .It is just another variation of the " Lost Cause" fairy tale embraced by so many southerners to make themselves feel better , after their humiliating loss . It is frightening that this guy was considered an historian .
Bill Eddy Yeah I guess that’s why Random House the best publisher in New York has him setting on their board to choose the books for their library. lol and owned by a big Yankee Bennett Curf. Who brought Ulysses by James Joyce to America when people like you thought he was nonsense too lol hahahahaha oh I’m gagging on that one. I’m rolling on the floor. Try to research people before you make a fool out of yourself.
@@billeddy4357 He's not talking nonsense, you're just offended by the truth of what he's saying.
@@billeddy4357 He actually never embraced the lost cause argument, but you obviously are just a butt hurt liberal who doesn't care to know the truth.
@@billeddy4357 Wrong: Mr Foote very clearly stated that he felt that the South never had a chance to win the war; that the North fought the war with one hand behind its back. What he presents in his work is the WHY and How that war was fought by both sides. Had you read all three volumes of his CW histories you would know that the lost cause fairy tale was never part of his considerations. That man worked on those books from 1951 to 1974 and you may rest assured he did due diligence in presenting the history from both sides. .... but I doubt you actually care...
I agree with Mr Foote-- sadly this problem is everywhere....the Taliban defaced and destroyed alot of ancient religious shrines and statutes in Afghanistan which are contrary to their beliefs.
My god if he saw America today
Love to listen to him.
1:45: yes, the South fought bravely for a cause in which it believed. HOWEVER. That cause was the continued ‘right’ to enslave human beings due to the color of their skin. AND they committed insurrection and treason in order to make that fight. In fact, slavery was LEGAL in those states and territories, with no immediate threat of being ended, at the moment the South rose up in insurrection!! So it is an outright falsehood to claim the South fought to protect what it already had.
What the South was fighting for was the ability to EXPAND slavery into new territories. That first shot fired toward Fort Sumter was not fired as a final desperate attempt to preserve slavery in South Carolina. It was fired as the first shot in bringing slavery to Arizona, California, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah.
Extremely relevant today
I truly love Mr Foote.
So do l lovely gentleman
I don’t agree w him on every single thing he thought/said, but he wasn’t a racist. He was part Jewish on his mother’s side and was a supporter of the civil rights movement in the 50s 60s and 70s
By Jewish law, if his mother was a Jew then so was he.
@@Tocqueville69 his Grandfather on his mother side was Jewish, but that’s not the point. So he was a quarter Jewish, but didn’t practice Judaism…
@@chadinmich1 . . . & he said that, had he lived at the time of the Civil War, he would have supported the slave-owning Confederacy. Now THAT is a confused citizen!
@@maltesetony9030 No, simply a realistic one. If _you_ had lived at the time of the Civil War as a southerner, you would almost certainly have supported the slave-owning Confederacy. People flatter themselves that if they had been at a particular time when something morally wrong like slavery existed, they would somehow have separated themselves from literally almost every other member of that society, and seen things differently. Undeceive yourself. It is overwhelmingly likely that you would have gone along with the herd. If you had been around then, you would have been raised with the attitudes and sensibilities and views of your friends and family around you, and you would have soaked up all the same rationalizations and justifications they had during your upbringing. It takes an exceptional individual to break away from all that and go his own way, especially on an issue that will see him ostracized for having different views.
@@Hibernicus1968 I took Foote to mean that, had he lived at the time of the Civil War, he would have supported the South because his loyalty to the South overrides (even now) any objections he has to slavery. If he means what you say he means, and for the reason you gives, then he could have made that a little clearer!
“Blacks don’t want to be reminded of that history”. Gee, I wonder why? If I were black, I’d be pretty raw about walking past statues in my town built for men that fought to have my ancestors enslvaved and owned as property. It seems to me that one group didn’t get much say in “The Great Compromise”.
Very seldom to you hear such wise words spoken today.
I have to respectfully disagree with the great Shelby Foote. Full disclosure, I was born & raised in New York. I lived in the South for about 20 years & when the Confederate Monument debate was at it's peak, I lost many friends, due to my opinion that any Confederate memorabilia should not be displayed in pubic, and should be relegated to museums, in much he same way that Holocaust museums exist in Germany. I could never understand why equating the Confederacy & the Institution of Slavery was not a fair comparison. No Nazi symbols are allowed in the public domain in Germany. Even the graves of many high ranking Nazi officials are unmarked to deter them from becoming gathering spots for Neo-Nazis. Yet in the South, symbols of treason & racism are not only proudly displayed, but revered as ''Southern Pride'' I don't, for a second, buy the excuse that they serve as a reminder of past discretions, to never be repeated, completely at odds with the current mindset. that teaching school children about Slavery will cause them to hate their country. That is utter nonsense & nothing more than pandering to the ''racist'' voters. When the same school children finally learn of the History that is being withheld from them, I believe that they will be angered by what can only be defined as ''whitewashing', no pun intended, of a significant part of their own History.
Here here!! Fascinating how the late Mr. Foote wanted his black American friends to embrace the historical hardship of their past as his Jewish friends had done; to reach a place of 'pride' in their struggle and perseverance. Having little direct experience himself, Shelby wasn't aware that the 'pride' part of the story always came after the pages outlining and describing the complete and thorough defeat of the groups' nemesis. I believe Shelby himself would agree that right now, today, very little if anything can be said about the south's thorough and complete defeat. He might even go so far as to suggest black Americans really had no nemesis in the south, as slavery really wasn't all that bad!
Absolutely right
What would Shelby think of today's vilification of all things Southern? From tearing down monuments by mobs and politicians. It starts with Confederate Generals, but it will not end here with solely destroying these monuments. Already Thomas Jefferson has been targeted for removal for being problematic! The constant drumroll of holding up men and actions in the past guilty with the current morals and politically correct standards of the children of the present.
When we revise our history as we are doing today, we lose the lessons learned and therefore we are destined to repeat those same mistakes again. I think Shelby Foote would agree. RIP Mr. Foote.
@@murrygandy6546 I am curious what lessons are lost via the removal of some divisive statues? What mistakes do you see in queue to be repeated?
As a native southerner I would have appreciated the opportunity to tell Mr. Foote to his face what utter swill this is. It was the South of the Jim Crow era that
betrayed the "great compromise".
As a fellow American I want to say I appreciate your stated position on this comment thread. Our country needed (and still does need) Americans like you for proper post-civil war healing and a better future moving forward today.
Shelby foote. Could listen to him for hours. Rest in peace.
Great voice but not so great otherwise.
S2xG Random House thinks so and millions of other people.
@@s2xg112 why?
I wish we had more guys like Shelby. Now we are stuck with Gary Gallagher 🤮. North Good south bad. That about sums up today’s Historians
It's more like Not-Slavery good, Slavery Bad. Anyone trying to preserve slavery -- BAD. It's well spoken and seemingly reasonable historians like Shelby Foote who have prevented us from seeing the truth right under our eyes. The Union won the war but the South won the peace and did everything they could to restore a semblance of their prewar life.
I lived in Louisiana for nine years, I really got tired of being called a "yankee" in not so pleasant terms. If I had died there, my tombstone would have "yankee" on it.
Perhaps they were telling you that you did not belong there, and you finally listened
There is nothing that is true, moral or of value that belongs in Louisiana.
A wonderful person; wish he was still with us.
Southern whites think strangely. Blacks didn’t ask to be in this horrible country where we have enjoyed all manner of abuse at their hands. GOD has got to do a better job of justice.
Time to move on. If you’re not helping to build a better society you’re not helping anybody.
@@jamesm.3967 It is not time to move on! It is time for justice!!! GOD has been slow to provide justice as He has promised.
@@ernestlane You say justice but it is clear that you mean revenge.
@@Deltaworks23 Proverbs 29:26 --> but it is from the LORD that man gets justice. THAT'S MUCH BETTER THAN REVENGE!
Hard 2 understand so much pride taken in such a system that bought and sold people.
You got to like it, right on
Well said. Brilliant.
I just bought his Civil War book(Vol1). It's really fascinating and I already ordered the next two.
I've also read McPherson's "Battle Cry of Freedom".. I liked it, altough it was a little boring.
Shelby Foote really captures the spirit of that particular era.
I admire this man so truly
His last few words “ trying to hide history from us is a mistake.” Amen
He also accused her of hiding from history. I'll wager black Americans from Reconstruction until the year I was born did a lot more hiding from lynch mobs than from history. Ask Emmett Till's kin.
When someone asserts that the Civil War wasn't about slavery, who's hiding history from who?
Long Live the Old South!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He could have made millions reading lullabies.
Boy have things fhanged since the 1990!!
"Why Sir, I tell you! The Colonel and I knew obscene dogma we did Sir, as surely as the day is long!"
So sad that this compromise has now been jettisoned.
Ersatz compromises and synthetic agreements have a very short half-life indeed. Really now, the north must "openly and freely admit the south fought bravely for a cause it believed in". That statement could be used to justify every single conflict in the worlds' written history, you must know that not all wars are justifiable.
I miss listening to this whole interview. Can someone post it?
it is from an interview with Brian Lamb from a C Span book review. In the CZcams Browser, type Foote, Lamb, Course of Their Stars. An hour long interview from which this clip was extracted.
One thing I notice in comments about the South is that people seem to view the south as home of the racist. The North to a smaller extent had in is history had slavery. The Racial attitudes against non whites existed in the North and later even into the wester territories. Why do think the American Indians were shot up and caroused on reservations following the civil war? The North who was so concerned with the rights of blacks( I’m being facetious) did not seem concerned for the rights of the red man. So the South good North bad concept needs to be challenged. It is taught by professors who know little history by their professors who knew less.
Exactly, many slaves in original colonies, owned by many framers, slavery was not a north south thing, both had them, it was the law at the time, funny thing is Blacks vote for democrats who championed slavery , wanted to get into constitution, and wanted slavery in western expanse. Yer they still vote for them today, even after 100 years of Jim Crow in south. Crazy, guess Bloomberg was right, Dems keep poor poor, uneducated, unemployed. Thing was north got more industrial and agricultural waned so slave usage fell off, but before 1860, before north and south, America had slaves, and many cultures had slaves for thousands of years before. And slavery still exits today,, in Africa, Middle East , Asia. One would think black America would be worlds anti slavery hero’s, but guess they got thier freedom, screw rest of world
The difference was that the North by the Civil War, had 8 slaves waiting to die off, and more importantly afterwards segregation was not made part of the basic laws.
Good point. Look at what all those Good Old Northern, Midwestern and Western folk did in places like Guatemala, Hawaii and the Philippines. Wage slavery remains real to this day.
Brilliant man! Point, as usual, well-made!!
I greatly admire Shelby Foote's telling of the Civil War. But none of us are infallible. The harm of slavery is still with us and the path forward necessitates a wider conversation.
History should never be forgotten, or misrepresented. Slavery, and the genocide of the Native Population, is more American, than Apple Pie! As the European Jews, would say: "NEVER FORGET"!!!!
@@benjaminpease5297 NEVER FORGET, but this white washed, rewritten history needs to be rewritten the right way. We can take it, we stole land, then held slaves, we weren't nice. The lost cause is a lie. I'm disappointed in Shelby's answer.
@@JimmyG415 So then you buy into the Northern Myth that the US Civil War was fought to end slavery?
it was not. It was fought to reunify the country.
Yes the expansion of slavery, states rights and also taxes were just some of the contributing factors that lead to the war.
So therefore, the Northern Myth that the war was to end slavery is therefore a LIE as well.
@@evinchester7820 LOL. You are a whacko.
@@evinchester7820 The South seceded because they felt (wrongly) the institution of slavery was threatened by the election of Lincoln. Lincoln when to war to keep the country unified. During the course of the war, he made the ending of slavery a major goal.
God Bless you Shelby, in a World filled with lies you fostered the Truth, and i applaud you for that. May you rest in perfect Peace.
My Grand daddy had friends who were Civil War vets......
I hear what your saying, Shelby, but some in the South are still fighting the war in a figurative sense.
I see nothing wrong with putting Confederate monuments in historical museums, along with Battle flags and even Klan costumes. Museums neutralize history by providing places where something that might inspire evil acts can be placed in a context in which that evil is displayed alongside the artifact.
Agree with your comments, context is the key.
And can be juxtaposed with common sense to show the absurdity of the hate.
Just about any historical monument /statue has some dirt on it. WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Revolutionary War, Lincoln, Ghandi,etc. Evil is relative. Should we tear them all down?
@@billmitchell1955 "A little dirt" is a mild description of slavery. Remember that in 1861, every other civilized country but Brazil outlawed slavery. Even Russia was about to abolish serfdom.
The purpose of history is not to expose "the absurdity of hate", but rather to reveal the culture, politics, economy, and other aspects of society at the time. That is why one studying should read primary sources from people and institutions of the time.
Secondarily, these sources may serve as a comparison to other political or economic conclusions or regions or even within regions.
Your comment parrots talking points, which both camps employ, in assessing any issue, contemporary or past. Worst of all, you and so many others study past issues through what you deem "enlightened" knowledge today.
Unfortunately, people of your ilk outnumber thise who study history as intended.
I was so sorry when he left us.
His time is literally past along with his notion the Confederates were gallant . Study Andersonville .
@@s2xg112 they generally were.
@@s2xg112 Study Camp Douglas, this had Lincoln's blessing's.
@@chrismaurer2075 that does not mean anything. Andersonville prisoners had 29% mortality. Camp Douglas had less despite fact many of the Rebel prisoners were already sick from the lousy rations they got as soldiers in the Rebel army.
He certainly has a southern mentality. Just lump each group together. Makes everything easier.
Shelby was right. In Vicksburg, it took, I think 75 yrs to have the American flag flying in its city.
More prescient now than ever, when race relations have hit a new all-time low in the post-George Floyd BLM era.
WOW! Common sense seems so uncommon these days.....
Mr. Foote says that when he was growing up Yankees were despised. How about Mets Fans and Boston Red Sox Fans?
In my book, Yankees are still despised.
@@blendarichter9347 - How about The Boston Red Sox?
Yankees would be treated with more regard if they would appreciate the Southern way and the reasons things are done the way they are. A good, even great, read regarding this subject is " The Mind of the South" W.J. Cash
If you do not respect the South and refuse to try and understand her past and her priorities stay the hell up North...if already here I-95 Northbound beckons...
@@schmittyhanrahan8126 I think you misunderstood the humor.
I don’t think old Shelbs has quite captured the black point of view. It’s a little different from what he is saying it is. And as someone else here has written, this “Compromise” idea doesn’t really take the views of African Americans into account.
And nobody mentions the Indians...again. While were talking about hiding from history.
Well he was wrong about that.
Glory glory hallelujah, his truth is marching on.
The war is still a hot button for many people. Both northerners and southerners will argue and insult each other as if the was is still being fought.
I don't find this statement to be true at all. At least not with sensible people in my age group. Even in re-enactment groups a lot of the Northern guys used to want to get to be a Southerner. Now sure they will poke at each other just to get a rise but it's mostly done in good fun.
History is complicated and messy for better and worse. And he’s a bright man.
The winner writes history books, the loser just tries to survive, ask the Carthaginians, oh wait you can't, the Romans saw to that.
@@indomitusveritas9838 Well , in this case the LOSERS did write the history books . That " Lost Cause' nonsense came out of the south and got wide acceptance. Jefferson Davis , Alexander Stephens , Robert E. Lee , Jubal Early , Edward Pollard and Thomas Dixon concocted that ridiculous fantasy to serve as a bedtime fairy tale for the hurt feelings of the losing side.
@@billeddy4357 I've never read more nonsense in three sentences in my entire life. By the way I don't remember mentioning the "Lost Cause" story-line in my posting. However, if you want to discuss a story-line; where real facts are no longer mentioned in today's revisionist society, why don't we discuss the war crimes committed by Sherman and Grant, specifically the scorched earth policy, executing civilians and bombing of civilians in Atlanta and Richmond just to name two well-known cities? Why don't we discuss the fact that the North claims that the war was fought to end slavery BUT slaves were still held in physical servitude DURING the war in NORTHERN states! This only ended in 1863, almost three years into the war, with Lincolns proclamation of emancipation. Why don't we also discuss the fact that the supreme court only ruled officially that the south did not have legal right to secede from the American Union until - again - almost three years into the conflict, and this by a minority decision. Atrox melior dulcissima veritas mendaciis!
@@indomitusveritas9838 You do have trouble staying on topic , don`t you ? Well , logic and rational thinking are not for everybody . You said that the winners write history . I pointed out that in this case , the LOSERS wrote the history . Then , you decided that since I criticized the south for its lies , that you would counter by criticizing the north for its bad behavior . Go right ahead . Why would I defend poor behavior by the north ? Unlike you , I am not trying to tiptoe around the truth . The motives of the north are irrelevant . The south seceded over the issue of slavery . The 1861 Letters of Secession clearly state that . The words" slave " and " slavery " show up again and again . The north fought to prevent the south from seceding . Since the south was seceding over slavery , the war was fought over slavery .( At least it started over slavery . )
@@billeddy4357 Icarus you are flying to close to the sun, egotistical hyperbole will destroy you since your rambling lacks any factual foundation. You are playing word salad and deflecting (e.g. northern slavery during the war) from my rebuttal of your nonsensical remark over the lost cause, which absolutely can not be back-engineered to the southern gentlemen you named. As "for the motives being irrelevant" this sentence is not only grammatically, but also syntactically, fluctuating around the third grade level of basic illiteracy. Of course ONE of the reasons for the war of northern aggression (there was nothing civil about it) dealt with slavery, but it was not the DEFINITIVE reason! Here is where the real revisionist fingerprint can be found. It was a war of a states sovereignty within their own geographical boundaries, it was a war to secure individual representation versus subjugation to a federal entity, it was a war of independence from unwanted governance. An example can be seen in the case of Florida; Florida entered the American union in 1845 through civil voter ratification, and this was applauded by the union, however in 1861, just 16 years later, Florida seceded from the Union through - AGAIN - civil voter ratification, but this was outlawed by the federal government in DC, a bit hypocritical to say the very least. Your last sentence proves my point in six words, "At least it started over slavery", if slavery was the moral encompassing reason to fight a war then why did slavery legally exist in NORTHERN states during the war?
A great man
And what cause did they fight for?
The South lost and they should be reminded of that all the time!
There is money to be made (power)and leverage to be had ( stay a victim) by hiding and rewriting history .
THAT'S not it; Black people in the US worry about the bad times happening AGAIN and much of the ugly racist behavior is just hidden from sight, or muted. What do you suppose that they are demonstrating for? I agree with Mr Foote about the way that things were; it's taken this long to get the people in Dixie to believe they've done wrong, let alone try and stop it. The rest of the grown-up message is: we're not done yet. We have a lot of people to convince yet, and the institutional inertia has to be searched out and changed properly - NO band-aid fixes good until the next election.
@@DavidSmith-ss1cg I think that can be true as well ...
@1861 In Their Own Words thank you
His accent is similar to people from Southside Va.
What does he say at @2:08 about Abraham Lincoln? It sounds like dogroll?
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doggerel
Obscene poetry basically.
@@VyperVenom
Hard to catch with his thick southern accent.
Doggerel. It’s an unusual word!
Lincoln had the ability to see himself outside of himself and like others see him.
The great compromise, as Shelby understands it, is unacceptable. It may have been a steppingstone 100 years ago but in today’s world the concept is nonsense.
That's just your personal opinion, highly subjective and open to broad interpretation, such as it is--The Great Compromiss is unacceptable to YOU, Mister Knows Better Than Everyone Else. Congratulations. Now R-E-L-A-X 🤣🤣🤣
@@LittleLouieLagazza Strange how this compromise, in Mr. Foote's subjective description, involved concessions that in no letter, word, hint or rumor, referenced the single most divisive element at the core of the dispute, African slavery. That isn't an interpretation, it's objective fact.
Then, in the same breath used to offer concessions that read as if the enslavement of black Americans had nothing to do with the dispute, he waxes regret that his black American friends don't subscribe to it. He's befuddled by their hostility toward Confederate symbols and calls this hostility a 'violation of the compromise'. The same compromise that in every, single percent of one hundred, ignores black Americans and all their suffering and struggling from slavery to Appomattox to Reconstruction and decades beyond.
How can anyone fail to understand a black American's distaste for embracing an ancestorial, historical past of slavery, while trying to survive the most systemically racist social environment ever established?
We now see there was a more insidious story at work.
It's easier to remain victims past if truths are buried thus, not allowing any compromise.
Shelby Foote has some Jewish heritage on his mother's side. The 'great compromise" has certainly been lost at this juncture with confederate statutes being torn down across the country and with the proposed renaming of military bases (e.g. Fort Bragg).
kmslegal----Braxton Bragg was a General of questionable skills and maturity who was universally disliked by superiors and subordinates. On one occasion , his own men tried to murder him . In January 1864, the war was not going well for the south . General Patrick Cleburne suggested arming blacks . He said , " The half trained blacks who are fighting against us for the Union, fight as well as the half trained whites who are fighting against us for the Union ." Bragg called his suggestion ," Treasonous."
A compromise among whites.
You can take the man out of the south but you can't take the south out of the man. The true is it was not a war between the states it was a war of the United States against the Confederacy a declared foreign country-rebels.
smart man
I don’t accept his comparison. If we took it to it’s logical conclusion, he’s saying that black people don’t want to see the confederate symbol but the Jews are very different - by which he means Jews would prefer to see nazi symbols on things? In what world is that remotely true??
He is completely wrong on so many stages. The direct comparison would be if the Germany of now still had a great aura of Nazis, felt proud of their Nazi heritage and still treated Jews as a second class segregated citizen on some parts. Then when those Nazis bringing "Holocaust" up wouldn't be something they would really enjoy to hear.
Comparing Confederates with Nazis just reflects your narrow minded perspective of reality.
I am admittedly Caucasian but I have discussed this with my friends of color. They don’t want it because slavery isn’t over. Once it’s over, maybe they can celebrate coming out the other side.
There was no compromise. What is was was a bunch of cowards surrendering to be able to return home. From home they continued to pass along their yellow blood.
What a fucking moron you are. Literally brain dead
snortingkittens Peoples’ blood lines originate somewhere and they can’t all be grade A and red blooded American. Sometimes we have to tolerate yellow bellies, because they’re too weak to win.
Shelby was half Jewish 😅😅
Shelby cant understand why you wouldn't want to be reminded your ancestors were chattel. Shelby thinks a cool southern drawl allows him to decide.
But they were and hiding that from your children is wrong it's your history one that you have over come. That is his point. I'm Irish Catholic my ancestors were persecuted in English by the British and the Orange. Then when they came here they ran into the same thing. I know it wasn't slavery but it was economic suppression. We don't run from it he don't demand the destruction of the past or restitution.
@@robertsullivan4773 would you agree it may be too soon? Those scars run deep and monuments to Confederates are just throwing salt in them.
Aren't there riots in the shankill in Dublin every year william the orange is celebrated? I foret what annual holiday it is. Seems like no one forgets they were spit/shit on!
Mr. Tuohy, who is unable to resist typing vulgarities, has evidently never experienced the lilting charm and soothing spirit of the American Southern drawl, a sub-dialect unto itself. Or if he has, his soul is immune to its delightful witchery. He thinks it is merely an affectation. Here is a short primer for such as him, the less fortunate who cannot lay claim to the affirmation: "American by birth and Southern by the grace of God".
czcams.com/video/tMkhax8LYn8/video.html
@@sgtmajtom06 awww did I hurt your delicate sensitivities?
His rose colored view of the south just ruins any chance I would believe him. If he can't say the south was a horrid racist society that had no good intentions for mankind? Then I would listen to his chuckles over some southern ways...as stupid.
nahhhh man nahhhhhh
Perhaps he meant well. Perhaps. But sometimes you should just keep you mouth shut.
A violation of a “compromise” that he himself has declared. He was a wonderful scholar and I cherish him, BUT “an arousal of bitterness”. Wow, he has determined when we should put the “bitterness” away. He has devised a world that does not exist. “Why should anyone be bitter now? “ is implied by that remark. I yearn for that world when we can put the bitterness away, and it will be a long road from here, when we put the bitterness away. BLM
Seriously, are you a Marxist? What are your thoughts on actual slavery where it exists today? And what have you done about ending it?
Ken Burns "Civil War"..already dated,discredited. It had too much "Plenty of good people- on both sides" to it.
he is the one that gives me nightmares to this day because the way they did these films of his his mouth has no teeth--only a coal black tomb--quite scary and creepy they should have changed the film method because in other videos of him there are glimpses of lower teeth.
I think this might be the most intellectually dishonest 3 mins on youtube.
He misses the mark with his opinion here. Mr. Foote romanticizes the Confederacy. One wonders if he is embarrassed about being Southern.
Great author, historian, great man! ❤
some might say propagandist