HL Hunley Burial

Hey y'all. I was thinking about my experience growing up in the South and what made my upbringing southern. I decided that participating in Civil War reenacting was probably something that you wouldn't really experience if you did not live in the South. I was a Civil War reenactor for 2 years with the 46th TN Co. K, during which I was able to attend the burial of theHL Hunley crew. I found this image of the medals that one of the crewman, Seaman Frank Collins, received posthumously.

As you can see that he received the Confederate States of America (CSA) Medal of Honor. To some people this seems stupid but to certain Southerners it is just as legitimate as a US Medal of Honor. As I said before, I had the honor of attending the burial. There were thousands of reenactors that came from all over and marched the bodies to the graveyard and buried them. I believe this image shows a representation of an aspect of the South. It is not a representation of everyone's South because everyone has a different experience of the South, depending on where they are and what they do, and the South is becoming much more diverse. However, this represents an aspect of the South that I, along with many others, experienced and thought important. It is not an attempt to reignite the War Between the States (or the War of Northern Aggression or the War of Southern Independence) nor is it refusing to accept Robert E. Lee's surrender, but rather we are honoring our relatives that fought in the Civil War and teaching others about the history of it (it is often referred to as "Living History"). This image shows how much we honor our relatives.

To Kill A Mockingbird

Hey guys! This is Hye Jin. I guess I'm the first one to post on this blog!

So, the first thing that came up to my mind when I thought about a representation of the South was a book called 'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee.

The book is basically about a widow lawyer father with two children living in Maycomb, Alabama. The father, Atticus is appointed by the court to defend a black man name Tom Robinson. Although he tries his best to prove Tom innocent, the court convicts him.

'To Kill a Mockingbird' was the first book I read that gave me an overview of the South during the 1960s. After learning some facts about the South and the history of racism, I thought that this book best represents the situation at that time. Like Tom Robinson was accused for rape, although in reality he was innocent, the white people were arguing for guilt and lynching. (I was quite surprised that lynching was mentioned in this book, since we briefly talked about it during the class other days. I didn't really realize how much lynching was done at that time to the blacks.) Moreover, humiliated by the trial, Bob Ewell revenges by spitting at Atticus and threatening Tom Robinson's widow. Due to these events, I think that 'To Kill a Mockingbird' accurately portrays the South.