But it is just a hood
August 20, 2010 1:13 PM   Subscribe

The Fredericksburg Remembered blog tackles the Klan hood displayed in our local regional history museum In Fredericksburg VA. Part 1 Part 2 If you go for a minimalist approach, as the museum did, you let the visitors react based mostly on their emotions. However, by doing that, you miss out on the chance to educate the public about the Klan in 1920s America. These were not extremists. They were your neighbors, your kid's teacher, the town grocer, or in some cases, the mayor or governor. Another camp would say that this should not be displayed at all. There is nothing to be gained from dredging up ancient history like this. I can see the argument for both of the first two options. I see no reasonable reason that this history should ever be buried. I was most recently in the museum last year. The intensity of my reaction to the hood surprised me. Even seeing the pictures on the web now causes my heart rate to pick up a little. I can only imagine the power that hood may still represent for those who are targets of the hatred from the KKK.
posted by COD (2 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: Not to say someone couldn't in theory put together a good post about the situation from the museum, but this is mostly you talking about your personal feelings about the whole thing and that's not how posts to mefi are supposed to work. -- cortex



 
Ad for the largest Klan rally in Fredericksburg's history, on August 7, 1926. As many as 5,000 attended at the Fairgrounds (then north of town).

Fredericksburg 82 years later.
posted by Rhaomi at 1:17 PM on August 20, 2010


Bad things happened. Let's not talk about why Sarah got a black eye, it would just upset her.
posted by orthogonality at 1:28 PM on August 20, 2010


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