Reading History

Klansmen during the Reconstruction era

While catching up on Game of Thrones a few weeks ago, I was particularly struck by the appearance of the terrorist organization known as the Sons of the Harpy. After the outlawing of slavery, this group, sporting golden masks to hide their identities, wages a campaign of terror against former slaves, the occupying army, and those who support the new government. Their parallel in the real world is obvious, an echo of the horror unleashed by the Klan and other white supremacist groups during the Reconstruction period of U.S. history and continuing for well over a century beyond that. This unprecedented campaign of violence against newly freed slaves and those who supported them crushed the hope that emancipation and the early stages of Reconstruction promised, disenfranchising African-Americans who had only just begun to exercise their right to vote and hold office. 

In the face of this backlash, the Federal government finally backed down, removing troops from the South at the end of Reconstruction and leaving blacks to fend for themselves. This must surely count as one of the most ignoble acts in our long history, one that is conveniently glossed over in many books and high school history classes. Even those genuinely interested in the Civil War seem to lose interest after Lee's surrender at Appomattox; why is this? For those who like history, there is a division between those who learn history to understand, and those who learn history to pick up what could rightly be considered essentially trivia. 

There are people who can name all the commanders in the Civil War, able even to match them with their particular military command. They can give the correct dates for the beginning and ending of the conflict, and list major battles too. But this impressive list of facts exists in relative isolation. It does little to help them understand the division between the South and many other parts of the country in the present, or the still-tortuous relations between African-Americans and whites, in spite of so much progress. In no way does this serve to try and condemn their enthusiasm, far from it. Learning history as an unrelated string of facts, however, is insufficient, no more helpful in understanding the present than knowing the entire Yankees roster during the 1930 season would be in discussing the current season. In this form, one's knowledge of history can be trotted out to win a trivia contest, the facts existing as shiny baubles of the mind--occasionally impressive and surely interesting to look at but with little utility in viewing the present world. For those who enjoy learning about our past, this form of historical knowledge ensures that current events seem to exist in a vacuum.

Moving beyond history as trivia not only brings with it a better understanding of how we got to now, it makes the past itself far more interesting. The disparate facts are connected together to present our story in all its colors, the flaws and debates and disagreements making those we read about seem more human--more like us. There is a richness in this reading of history that those who know only trivia miss out on. They owe it to themselves to delve a little deeper, to try and understand this world we have inherited. Even those bored to death in high school by an endless series of names and dates may well find the true complexity of our past fascinating, when properly presented. 

Learning history can help us understand why the world has became what it is. Racism in the U.S. today, the rise of Islamic extremism, and the aggressive posturing of Russia all have roots well beyond the last few decades. Truly reading history with the intent to understand helps us in dealing with all of these topics, and such a reading scorns the simplistic explanations and solutions often proffered by the talking heads in media and government. Understanding history in this way isn't a panacea for solving the problems we face. Without this understanding, however, dealing with these problems will likely prove impossible.