The United States Needs a Slavery Museum

[struggle4progress]

By Sara Fanning • May 20, 2014 • 12:00 PM

... Horrifying though Bundy’s remarks were (and he did receive a fast rebuke from some of those who had initially sided with him), he’s not the only one who has shared this opinion publicly in recent years. In March, Arizona congressional candidate Jim Brown wrote on his Facebook page that “Basically slave owners took pretty good care of their slaves and livestock and this kept business rolling along.” Last year, Walter Block, who holds an endowed chair at Loyola University, wrote the following in an article on lewrockwell.com: “Otherwise, slavery wasn’t so bad. You could pick cotton, sing songs, be fed nice gruel, etc. The only real problem was that this relationship was compulsory.”

What this kind of commentary tells us is deeply disturbing: That we as a nation have failed to educate ourselves about the institution of slavery, and what’s more, that there are Americans who refuse to accept it as the United States’ original sin. To begin to address this ignorance, we need a national museum dedicated to slavery in America—its reality, its history, and its long-lasting effects ...

http://www.psmag.com/navigation/books-and-culture/u-s-needs-slavery-museum-81898/