Virginia Textbook Inaccurately Claims Thousands of Blacks Fought for the South
The textbook "Our Virginia" makes the widely discredited claim that, "Thousands of Southern blacks fought in the Confederate ranks, including two black battalions under the command of Stonewall Jackson."
The author of the textbook Joy Madoff is not a trained historian and admits she based the information on internet research, but she defends her work overall.
"As controversial as it is, I stand by what I write," Madoff said. "I am a fairly respected writer. It's just one sentence. I don't want to ruffle any feathers. If the historians had contacted me and asked me to take it out, I would have."
The Virginia Board of Education withdrew its approval of the book Thursday but did not require schools to stop using the inaccurate textbook.
Published by Jeffrey Weeks
Jeffrey Weeks is an award-winning NC newspaper columnist who writes about saltwater and freshwater fishing, southern seafood and cooking, hunting, popular entertainment, and sports. View profile
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11 Comments
Post a CommentThe claim that thousands of blacks fought for the Confederacy is valid. I don't know about the other claims in the textbook, but there is very good evidence, including from Union military records, that several thousand blacks did in fact fight for the South:
http://www.mtgriffith.com/web_documents/blackconfederates.htm
awesome work; thanks for sharing ♥
Obviously, in the state of Virginia, truth is not the important concern for history books: getting Ole Massa's point of view is.
She based her book on internet research? Oh yeah, like that's a legitimate source.
The facts should be accurate in the textbooks - schools owe the students excellence if they want the students to perform excellently. rcj
History is sometimes interpreted differently! Facts and views should be sifted and made clear. I know among warring countries, historical narrations differ, even on fairly recent happenings; like what led to the partition in South Asia. I refer to India and Pakistan - siva
Good to know this...thanks.
Wow!! thanks for this Jeffrey... :o)
great job
I don't know about "thousands," but there were some. There are photographs and journal entries in existence.