A Reasoned Reconstruction Of The Past - 2140 Words

Often in the general public of readers and audiences, the terms history and memory coalesce and seem to easily flow together when considering historical consciousness of the past, and yes, there is an intertwined relationship between the two. However, there are distinct differences between these two expressions. History can be described as â€Å"a reasoned reconstruction of the past rooted in research.† It can belong to anyone and can be known by anyone, whereas memory is usually passed down and owned by a certain community or group. Memory is also used differently – it can be framed to suit a person or community’s specific ideologies, it can give value, and there can be deeper meanings such as helping one cope with the weight of past in that†¦show more content†¦After the war had occurred, many whites were focusing on healing their broken families, and bringing the American family back together (referring to the North and South), instead of focusing on what the future held for African Americans. Many whites wordlessly agreed that â€Å"healing from the war was simply not the same proposition as doing justice to the four million emancipated slaves and their descendants.† Therefore the Civil War in memory right after the time of the war was devoted to healing the broken families and divided brothers, and the slavery that had started the war was overlooked in most people’s minds. Also in memory, â€Å"Old and New South were romanticized and welcomed back to a new nationalism, and in which devotion alone made everyone right, and no one truly wrong in the remembered Civil War,† to reunite the North with the South. The North decided that they would forgive, and that they would claim no one was â€Å"truly wrong† so that the South would not feel alienated or disrespected, which changed how the war was remembered. While centering in on welcoming the South and trying to eradicate hard feelings, the race and s lavery issues were forgotten from memory. Perhaps people were worried that discussion of those issues would have detracted from reconciliation, so therefore they focused all their energies on one problem so as to give it their fullest attention. Within this nationalism and idealization of