Documentary Television

Bacchus

There was some discussion(I think on the main)a few months back about how Discovery Channel, A&E, and a few others tend to present some documentary shows as "fact", when in reality there is much embellishment for purpose of creative liscense.
As a bit of a History Buff(particularly "American")I have a keen interest in the upcoming "History" channel offering titled "America, the Story of Us". I have heard rumor that George Washington is portrayed with significant negativity as his involvement in slavery is one of the highlights.
Does anyone else have an interest in this show? Or have any insight into it or its level of accuracy?

ASTegaCay

You have to take some things with a grain of salt when that academics put their spin on History. GW did have slaves, well at least his wife Martha did, as George was not a wealthy man. Martha was the one that was wealthy as her first Husband who passed was very well off. So pretty much she was the owner of the Slaves(not making it right) on both Mount Vernon and on her first husbands land at Williamsburg.

I am a History Buff especially American History, our forefathers, Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution.

Jeffersonian

You'd do well to skip the Zinn and read something a trifle more fact-based.

Bacchus

Aaron, I have read that GW freed the slaves in his Will, but that it would not occur until Martha's death. Then Martha freed them right away so as not to have a price on her head.
My second favorite American History figure is Franklin. He was involved in so many different things.

ASTegaCay

I watched something on Ben Franklin's life and really enjoyed it. It talked about how he came up to become a printer in Philly, and all his accomplishments with the DI and the Consitution, then his being the ambassador of France. It talked about all of the lady friends he had around him. It was pretty interesting how this older gentleman would woo the younger ladies just to have them around him.

He was a brilliant man, and all Americans owe his memory more than what is going on now.

bitslammer

History is what it is. Many owned slaves back then, doesn't make it right, but doesn't mean all owners were bad people.

As a country we have a lot of skeletons in our closet, what country doesn't. We did a lot of horrific things to the native Americans too.

It's a great country with a great history. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else, but we're far from the angelic perfection we like to dream we are. We're human and that's all there is to really say.

Bacchus

Aaron, the Franklin biography published about 6 years ago by David McCullough is excellent.
He also did "1776" which is also quite good, and "The Great Bridge" about the Brooklyn Bridge. I recieved that one as a gift and enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.

edit/correction... "Benjamin Franklin, An American Life" was by Walter Isaacson, and was published in 2003.

Bacchus

Thanks for weighing in Chris. I look at it slightly differently, but appreciate your opinion.

Grandpas Grub

 
Thanks for the heads up, need to watch it.

GG

Spring Chicken

A few years ago I developed an interest in history of the area in Louisiana where I grew up. I just happened to be researching "Jim Bowie, a freed slave living in Catahoula Parish" and thought it odd that he lived in the same area near Bushley Bayou as the famous James Bowie who went on to die at the Alamo.

I was shocked to learn that the freedman Jim Bowie actually owned land and was pretty well off. He also owned slaves of his own. But get this, he loaned James Bowie a sum of money and took a cow as collateral.

All of this is recorded in the Catahoula Parish Courthouse.

I also happened on this: LARGEST SLAVEHOLDERS FROM 1860 SLAVE CENSUS SCHEDULES in Catahoula Parish, Louisiana. It is very interesting reading.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ajac/lacatahoula.htm

Slavery was the accepted norm back then and for thousands of years of prior human history. It only became an issue of serious dispute in the nineteenth century.

I also discovered in my readings that "indentured servants" were, in effect, nothing more than slaves themselves, and although they supposedly had a way out of their servitude, many did not because of various methods used by their masters to keep them in virtual slavery.

No, slavery was not one of mankind's greatest moments. It was simply a means to an end for those who could take advantage of it. The majority of people were not slaves nor were they slave owners but they did accept it as a way of life.

Interesting stuff, history.

Spring "History Gets Lost In Time" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

Bacchus

Well the first episode(s) aired this past Sunday evening and was actually quite good. I look forward to the rest of the series, apparently airing the next 5 Sunday's.