Bridging Selma
Apr 26, 2015 | Stories
April 24, – Each year in April, a month after celebrating the voting rights victories achieved in Selma, the town hosts the Battle of Selma Re-enactment festivities. Thousands of people come to town to remember the April 1865 Civil War battle in which Selma’s Confederate Troops were defeated by Union troops. For some, the observance of this part of the town’s Confederate past honors the people who fought against the rights of black people, who now make up the majority of the town’s population. Abayomi Goodall, the director at the Slavery & Civil War Museum, leads a protest against the celebration of confederacy during the 150th Battle of Selma Re-enactment at the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Friday, April 24. Photo by Erin Irwin Allen Garner looks on during a demonstration honoring Black soldiers who fought in the Civil War. Photo by Benjamin McKnight III Alabama State Senator Hank Sanders greets Azali Fortier, a young protestor speaking out against the Battle of Selma reenactment on April 24. Photo by Benjamin McKnight III Fayatoure Rose points onlookers and fellow demonstrators in the direction of the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Photo by Benjamin McKnight III Doyle MaurerWVU...
Apr 28, 2015 | Stories
“We had more love and respect for people 60 years ago than we do today,” said Gary Johnson, a Sons of Confederate Veterans member who was at a Marion, Ala., cemetery on Confederate Remembrance Day Sunday. “Now, granted things weren’t equal back then. There were a lot of things that were wrong, no doubt. There’s things that were wrong yesterday that we hope to right today. We’re not perfect people.” Johnson spoke after the memorial ceremony, which involved a pledge of allegiance to the Confederacy, a rousing rendition of “Dixie” and a speech by H.K. Edgerton, an African American man dressed in Confederate soldier garb who spun a pre-war history of the south where slaves and their masters lived in happy harmony. (See related article “Civil War Reenactment: African Americans Join the Confederate Forces.) Johnson takes issue with the characterization of racism as a negative word. “I am a racist. I want my children to all be white. H.K.’s a racist. And we should be. But what we are not is bigots,” Johnson said. “We’re not that way. We’re loving people…this is the way we used to be.” Johnson, a Marion resident, lives in the house that once belonged to Confederate General and Ku Klux Klan Wizard Nathan Forrest. Forrest led the Rebel troops in the 1865 Battle of Selma and Johnson honors his legacy by serving as the commander of the local Sons of Confederate Veterans group called Gen. Isham W. Garrott Camp #764. Each year on April 26, the camp hosts a ceremony for the area’s Confederate Memorial Day, a holiday in honor of Confederate soldiers who...
Apr 27, 2015 | Stories
Reenactors march to the battlefield at the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Selma on Saturday, April 25, 2015. Photo by Maya Gilmore Reenactors pose as settlers during the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Selma on April 25, 2015. Photo by Maya Gilmore Reenactors line up on their horses right before combat begins at the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Selma on Saturday, April 24, 2015. Photo by Maya Gilmore Fake remains are loaded into a bloody trunk at the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Selma on Saturday, April 25, 2015. Photo by Maya Gilmore A Reenactor walks away from the women’s tea at the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Selma on Saturday, April 25, 2015. Photo by Maya Gilmore As reenactors enter the fairgrounds for the 150th celebration of the Battle of Selma, they are welcomed by a giant booth filled with collectables, books, brochures, and other readings. At first glance, it looks like the registration table—but it’s not. As visitors study the booth’s tables they will notice book titles including “The White Identity, the Social Conscious in the 21st Century,” and “The Authentic History of the Ku Klux Klan.” The literature on the table sets the tone for the organization. The Friends of Forrest, an organization that celebrates a notorious Civil War general, is trying to raise $54,000 for a replacement bust of General Nathan Bedford Forrest that will be placed in Selma’s Live Oak Cemetery. Forrest was a Lieutenant general in the Confederate Calvary and his military career was focused in the mid-South where he led the Confederate troops in the Battle...
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