torgoboi
torgoboi t1_j0i65lv wrote
Reply to comment by Steak48 in How do countries that lack long, ancient histories and myths (or feel they lack it), or have lost all records of them, compensate for this loss or absence? Can these invented ancient myths become as "legitimate" as the truly old histories/myths of countries that have them? by raori921
I was thinking this as well. Our historical memory is super embedded into our culture in the US.
I think a lot of Americans also tend to look back to or identify with a mythologized version of the countries their families immigrated from, if they have that knowledge, because we don't have such a long history of being in one place and having the long origin story there. So they can look back at that cultural group and borrow material from there too.
torgoboi t1_isoizf7 wrote
Reply to comment by GOLDIEM_J in Simple/Short/Silly History Questions Saturday! by AutoModerator
In addition to what's been mentioned as far as political power, it's also worth noting the role of capitalism and industrialization. As capitalism expanded into a global market and technology made it possible to process and produce things like textile products more quickly, you see the plantation system develop into a labor system, and white plantation owners relied on unfree labor to continue growing that. It's worth noting that even a lot of anti-slavery white Americans pre-emancipation are against enslaved labor not because they necessarily care about enslaved African Americans, but because they feel that it's a threat to free white labor.
Some sources to check out if you're interested in exploring the connection between capitalism and slavery:
torgoboi t1_j0i9p4h wrote
Reply to The forgotten history of the US' African American coal towns by StationFrosty
I'm very tempted to take this tour next time I drive through this region!
Some fun facts about African Americans in my corner of Appalachia:
Cheryl LaRoche's book talks some about how in Southeast Ohio and Northern Kentucky, the iron furnaces were an important part of the region's Underground Railroad network. Ironton was founded by a white abolitionist, and many African Americans worked in the iron industry on both sides of the river, so that became a mode of mobility and a geographic guide for freedom seekers.
Lewis Woodson, regarded by some as the "father of Black nationalism," lived with his father and siblings for a number of years in Chillicothe and later in Jackson County, Ohio. Woodson later advocated for African Americans to move to Ohio and places like it, and used his father's rural Ohio community as an example of the possibilities for Black self-determination that didn't require moving abroad. Woodson felt that the rural landscape would allow African Americans to live away from racists, but also felt that there was some moral and spiritual value in that.
Richard L. Davis was born in Roanoke, Virginia, and moved to Rendville, Ohio, notable for being an integrated mining town in the 19th century. Now, for some important context, Hocking Valley's coal industry had experienced labor strikes in that area, and at least some were temporarily broken by Black strike breakers, because coal companies new they could exploit racial labor issues by bringing in Black workers from Southern States to work for a much cheaper price, given that white unions excluded them. Davis helped to found the United Mine Workers Of America, and focused his energy on securing Black members, and in doing so made significant progress in breaking the caller line in the region.
That's not even scratching the surface, and clearly I am only talking about one tiny pocket of Appalachian Ohio. I'm sharing this because, particularly among people outside the region, there are these popular assumptions that Appalachia is just white people, or that any Black history began with the Great Migration. But across the region, if you know where to look, you can find so much early Black history.