Levin on Silas and Andrew Chandler

jgoodguy

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So at the moment, no evidence of humane treatment of slaves has been presented.
 

Andersonh1

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Silas Chandler gave me, an excellent bridge located in Brooklyn. Check the land records to confirm this. Until firmly disproved, we can assume I own Silas Chandler's Brooklyn Bridge.
In fact, I am insulted that anyone would insinuate that Silas wouldn't do something like that for me. Insulted!
The plausibility of a land donation for a church is far higher than you're willing to admit. I don't know if it happened or not, but it's hardly in the realm of fantasy that you suggest.
 

jgoodguy

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No one's saying that here.
I disagree. I say slavery and I see all sorts of opinions that it was not so bad.
For example;
Perfectly stated.

This approach is employed by many folks. I find it odd that, through their speculation, assumptions, & opinions that..... their conclusions only go one way. The ONLY possibilities in their minds are the possibilities that go the worst possible way. You know, the direction that their narrative prefers. That is activism. Not history.
So we we have examples of less inhumane treatment of slaves or just opinions that were not as bad as scholars like Levin provide examples of.

I'd like to see Leven's example quoted with book page reference with counter evidence.

Or is it just opinions that slavery was not so bad.
 

Tom

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Silas Chandler gave me, an excellent bridge located in Brooklyn. Check the land records to confirm this. Until firmly disproved, we can assume I own Silas Chandler's Brooklyn Bridge.
In fact, I am insulted that anyone would insinuate that Silas wouldn't do something like that for me. Insulted!
Don't you have some cranberries to pick?
 

Matt McKeon

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The plausibility of a land donation for a church is far higher than you're willing to admit. I don't know if it happened or not, but it's hardly in the realm of fantasy that you suggest.
I was using hyperbole to suggest that we stick to the facts. I don't think it adds to the sum of human knowledge to assert something without any basis.
 

jgoodguy

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The plausibility of a land donation for a church is far higher than you're willing to admit. I don't know if it happened or not, but it's hardly in the realm of fantasy that you suggest.
That is an incorrect formulation of the probability problem. The correct formulation is that Silas's church was provided with a specific parcel of land by a given individual within a specific time period. That strains plausibility without evidence.
 

O' Be Joyful

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As further info:

The website BuzzFeed.com has a great article about African Americans and the Civil War titled The Secret History Of The Photo At The Center Of The Black Confederate Myth. This is from the introduction to the article:

A 160-year-old tintype depicting Andrew Chandler and his slave Silas, both in Confederate uniform, has long been used as evidence that slaves willingly fought against the army that aimed to free them. Following the national backlash against Confederate iconography, Silas’s descendants seek to debunk this once and for all.

This is a powerful piece about how we, as families and communities, remember the past. It asks important questions, such as: can we ever really trust the family history that has been handed down to us, given that it might combine both fact and fancy? And also: after we die, who gets to tell the story of our life: our families, “interested” social organizations, or somebody else? Silas Chandler (see the above picture), the young, enslaved person who was a camp servant during the Civil War, would never have guessed that 150 years after the war’s end, his memory would be as contested as it is now.

FYI, I met with Bobbie Chandler (one of the great-grandchildren of Silas) a few years ago in Washington, DC. He was visiting the African American Civil War Museum. He and several family members were quite skeptical of the black Confederate soldier narrative that had been applied to their ancestor, and he was trying to find information about the subject. We now know that his skepticism was well founded.

His search for the truth was touching. He was clearly frustrated that so many people had told this story about
his forefather, but now it seemed like that story could not be trusted. So he had to go on a quest, you could call it, to find the real past.

I know a lot of people think that the black Confederate “controversy” is overblown, and perhaps not worth the time it’s given in the media, or in social media. But it did matter to these descendants of Silas Chandler that they finally learned the truth about his life, and it matters to them that his life be correctly rendered wherever it is told. Ultimately, it is this concern about family and truth that drives the controversy, as much as anything.

RIP, Silas Chandler


https://jubiloemancipationcentury.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/page/2/
 

Viper21

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As further info:

The website BuzzFeed.com has a great article about African Americans and the Civil War titled The Secret History Of The Photo At The Center Of The Black Confederate Myth. This is from the introduction to the article:

A 160-year-old tintype depicting Andrew Chandler and his slave Silas, both in Confederate uniform, has long been used as evidence that slaves willingly fought against the army that aimed to free them. Following the national backlash against Confederate iconography, Silas’s descendants seek to debunk this once and for all.

This is a powerful piece about how we, as families and communities, remember the past. It asks important questions, such as: can we ever really trust the family history that has been handed down to us, given that it might combine both fact and fancy? And also: after we die, who gets to tell the story of our life: our families, “interested” social organizations, or somebody else? Silas Chandler (see the above picture), the young, enslaved person who was a camp servant during the Civil War, would never have guessed that 150 years after the war’s end, his memory would be as contested as it is now.

FYI, I met with Bobbie Chandler (one of the great-grandchildren of Silas) a few years ago in Washington, DC. He was visiting the African American Civil War Museum. He and several family members were quite skeptical of the black Confederate soldier narrative that had been applied to their ancestor, and he was trying to find information about the subject. We now know that his skepticism was well founded.

His search for the truth was touching. He was clearly frustrated that so many people had told this story about
his forefather, but now it seemed like that story could not be trusted. So he had to go on a quest, you could call it, to find the real past.

I know a lot of people think that the black Confederate “controversy” is overblown, and perhaps not worth the time it’s given in the media, or in social media. But it did matter to these descendants of Silas Chandler that they finally learned the truth about his life, and it matters to them that his life be correctly rendered wherever it is told. Ultimately, it is this concern about family and truth that drives the controversy, as much as anything.

RIP, Silas Chandler


https://jubiloemancipationcentury.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/page/2/
"We now know that his skepticism was well founded."

I must have missed the evidence in the article that backs up this statement.....
 

jgoodguy

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"We now know that his skepticism was well founded."

I must have missed the evidence in the article that backs up this statement.....
The evidence has been presented, but you are welcomed to express your opinion.
 
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