As a scholar who’s always concerned that the true story of black Confederates gets the attention it deserves, Kevin Levin has kept us all up to date on the struggling Kickstarter campaign to make “My Brother’s Keeper: The Making of a Black Confederate.” It’s a children’s book about enslaved twin boys who grow up as Thomas J. Jackson’s property. The author asserts that “Jackson’s extraordinary relationship with African Americans in the Slave South and in the Confederacy deserves a book of its own,” overlooking this. Moreover, the author wants us to understand that “the reality is that some slaves made the seemingly oxymoronic choice to fight FOR their oppressors,” which may help explain the decision to explore this notion through children’s fiction.
You would think that this is exactly the sort of book that would gain the support of certain members of the Confederate heritage movement, but such is not the case. Here are the top ten reasons why such high expectations from the usual suspects have not been met:
10. Gary Adams of the SHPC was not consulted as a fact-checker, so he’s hurt. After all, Jeopardy recognized his skills. However, should the book come out, Gary will freely reproduce the text without acknowledgement.
9. David Tatum was miffed by the news that he would not serve as proofreader for the book, and so he’s returned to his self-publishing ventures, where each error discovered becomes the opportunity to declare that a revised and updated edition is available.
8. Valerie Protopapas, an expert on black Confederates (and on slavery, period), was disgusted that a fellow New Yorker ignored her evident talents when it comes to fiction. Don’t worry, Val. This New Yorker recognizes them for what they are.
7. Kevin M. Weeks and Ann DeWitt refused to help the competition. After all, we are talking about a limited market.
6. Karen Cooper wants to know why she’s been overlooked to write a foreword that reads suspiciously like the author’s ad copy on a number of his books.
5. H. K. Edgerton fumed when he saw that the black Confederate in the novel bore no resemblance to him, unlike Dixie Outfitters’ t-shirt honoring the foremost black advocate of black Confederates for a fee. He was especially annoyed to see that the black Confederate in the novel wore a cavalryman’s tunic, instead of H. K.’s infantry jacket or his beloved artilleryman’s shell jacket, complete with sergeant’s chevrons.
4. Carl Roden pouted when he found out that there would be nothing in the book about Hey Arnold’s romantic exploits. After all, this is a book for children, not about children coming of age in a way that Carl can write about so well.
3. Connie Chastain was miffed that her endless talents as a designer of dust jackets for e-books were neglected. She will work off her anger by posting ten times about me and by designing five more jackets for e-books that she’ll never write. No link needed.
2. Susan Hathaway was too busy not flagging the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts to offer her assistance. Besides, she’s out raising money for another flag. We might be able to see this one. [Note: There were no more bids after I blogged about this auction. Those heritage folks are pretty cheap.]
1. Finally, there was far too much money flowing into Norwood “Tripp” Lewis’s defense fund to contribute to this worthy cause. After all, it’s not as if Tripp might not stumble into trouble down the road, and it’s best to be prepared.
And now we wait for David Grove to post this on his FB group, Dixie News & Talk, which was once Connie Chastain’s famed Backsass! FB group … because more people read it than read her books.
Wonder whether Kickstarter might accept Confederate money …
As they say, folks, it’s time to put your money where your mouth is. Here’s a chance for you to help educate the youth of America about the truth about black Confederates.
Otherwise, you’ll make this man very happy.
Crossroads 