Why is ante bellum racist?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It romanticizes a culture that was terrorizing and abusing all but the wealthiest and whitest people in the south. It's something that should be looked back on reverently, if not with shame, not romanticized as the good Ole days.

Not up to you to decide.

What? Lol. The first part of my post is fact, and is the answer to why many view the antebellum period as one we should not celebrate.

You can decide for yourself if you want to romanticize it, but you can't ignore the facts of what happened. It wasn't all pretty dresses and mint juleps.

It isn't the period, it is the plantation culture that is shunned. "Little Women" is antebellum. Emerson and Thoreau are antebellum. Have a Trancendentalism-themed party.

I think this is important. Precision of language is critical and cancelling the entire period without recognizing what else was going on is dangerous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Not the same thing at all. There was much in the antebellum South that was not dominated by slavery. And, FWIW, hoop skirts were also worn in the North.


Could you share more on the bolded please? Curious to know what you mean.

While 25% of Southerners owned slaves (and that is too many, of course), 75% did NOT own slaves. Of course, the large plantations depended on slavery, but many other people did not. Slavery was outrageous and troubling, but it was not the ONLY thing in the South.

The 75% that did not own slaves also didn't live in plantations and live lavishly. So, bad example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It romanticizes a culture that was terrorizing and abusing all but the wealthiest and whitest people in the south. It's something that should be looked back on reverently, if not with shame, not romanticized as the good Ole days.

Not up to you to decide.

What? Lol. The first part of my post is fact, and is the answer to why many view the antebellum period as one we should not celebrate.

You can decide for yourself if you want to romanticize it, but you can't ignore the facts of what happened. It wasn't all pretty dresses and mint juleps.

It isn't the period, it is the plantation culture that is shunned. "Little Women" is antebellum. Emerson and Thoreau are antebellum. Have a Trancendentalism-themed party.

I think this is important. Precision of language is critical and cancelling the entire period without recognizing what else was going on is dangerous.

Point taken, and I don't disagree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It romanticizes a culture that was terrorizing and abusing all but the wealthiest and whitest people in the south. It's something that should be looked back on reverently, if not with shame, not romanticized as the good Ole days.

Not up to you to decide.

What? Lol. The first part of my post is fact, and is the answer to why many view the antebellum period as one we should not celebrate.

You can decide for yourself if you want to romanticize it, but you can't ignore the facts of what happened. It wasn't all pretty dresses and mint juleps.

It isn't the period, it is the plantation culture that is shunned. "Little Women" is antebellum. Emerson and Thoreau are antebellum. Have a Trancendentalism-themed party.

I think this is important. Precision of language is critical and cancelling the entire period without recognizing what else was going on is dangerous.

Point taken, and I don't disagree.

People aren’t having Transcendentalisl themed parties and calling them “antebellum” parties. Or holding them at plantations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It romanticizes a culture that was terrorizing and abusing all but the wealthiest and whitest people in the south. It's something that should be looked back on reverently, if not with shame, not romanticized as the good Ole days.

Not up to you to decide.

What? Lol. The first part of my post is fact, and is the answer to why many view the antebellum period as one we should not celebrate.

You can decide for yourself if you want to romanticize it, but you can't ignore the facts of what happened. It wasn't all pretty dresses and mint juleps.

It isn't the period, it is the plantation culture that is shunned. "Little Women" is antebellum. Emerson and Thoreau are antebellum. Have a Trancendentalism-themed party.

I think this is important. Precision of language is critical and cancelling the entire period without recognizing what else was going on is dangerous.

Point taken, and I don't disagree.

We can be deliberately literal and pretend that when people refer to "Antebellum" they mean the years before 1861, and that includes white sharecroppers and abolitionist philosophers and poets. But it doesn't, and if you just google "antebellum party" you can see what people really mean.

[Anonymous]

An antebellum party is racist because it is a celebration/replication of the lifestyle of the uber wealthy, slave owning, white people living on plantations in the pre Civil War south. These people owned and amassed their wealth, and were afforded this opulent lifestyle and their parties because they were slaveowners and amassed ridiculous wealth by owning other human beings.

Why would anyone have a party to celebrate this dark chapter in american history? Not a great choice for a theme for a party. Do you understand?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:An antebellum party is racist because it is a celebration/replication of the lifestyle of the uber wealthy, slave owning, white people living on plantations in the pre Civil War south. These people owned and amassed their wealth, and were afforded this opulent lifestyle and their parties because they were slaveowners and amassed ridiculous wealth by owning other human beings.

Why would anyone have a party to celebrate this dark chapter in american history? Not a great choice for a theme for a party. Do you understand?

An antebellum party is about the clothes. I've never been to one, but I can tell you that is what I see. It also includes mint juleps. Lots of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I understand that asking this question invites all kinds of criticism. I am asking sincerely. Help me understand why wearing pretty dresses to a party is racist?

Thank you.

It’s not. A bunch of girls in lacy dresses and parasols? Not remotely racist. At all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try this, OP

https://www.mcclatchydc.com/opinion/article136803208.html

That was such a good article. It's also what the book White Trash by Nancy Eisenberg is about. It was a con job on poor white people.

That they’re still merrily upholding and refusing to learn about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An antebellum party is racist because it is a celebration/replication of the lifestyle of the uber wealthy, slave owning, white people living on plantations in the pre Civil War south. These people owned and amassed their wealth, and were afforded this opulent lifestyle and their parties because they were slaveowners and amassed ridiculous wealth by owning other human beings.

Why would anyone have a party to celebrate this dark chapter in american history? Not a great choice for a theme for a party. Do you understand?

An antebellum party is about the clothes. I've never been to one, but I can tell you that is what I see. It also includes mint juleps. Lots of them.

It is very specifically about the clothes that the richest and most elite class of southerners wore. So everyone goes to the party dressed like elite, wealthy southern plantation owners, aka people who are wealthy from human slavery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An antebellum party is racist because it is a celebration/replication of the lifestyle of the uber wealthy, slave owning, white people living on plantations in the pre Civil War south. These people owned and amassed their wealth, and were afforded this opulent lifestyle and their parties because they were slaveowners and amassed ridiculous wealth by owning other human beings.

Why would anyone have a party to celebrate this dark chapter in american history? Not a great choice for a theme for a party. Do you understand?

An antebellum party is about the clothes. I've never been to one, but I can tell you that is what I see. It also includes mint juleps. Lots of them.

It is very specifically about the clothes that the richest and most elite class of southerners wore. So everyone goes to the party dressed like elite, wealthy southern plantation owners, aka people who are wealthy from human slavery.

The opulent lifestyle of the wealthy today is still based on exploiting other humans. So, I hope you enthusiastically refuse to attend corporate functions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An antebellum party is racist because it is a celebration/replication of the lifestyle of the uber wealthy, slave owning, white people living on plantations in the pre Civil War south. These people owned and amassed their wealth, and were afforded this opulent lifestyle and their parties because they were slaveowners and amassed ridiculous wealth by owning other human beings.

Why would anyone have a party to celebrate this dark chapter in american history? Not a great choice for a theme for a party. Do you understand?

An antebellum party is about the clothes. I've never been to one, but I can tell you that is what I see. It also includes mint juleps. Lots of them.

It is very specifically about the clothes that the richest and most elite class of southerners wore. So everyone goes to the party dressed like elite, wealthy southern plantation owners, aka people who are wealthy from human slavery.

Yeah so? Ever heard of the Society for Creative Anacronism. where people dress up in the clothes of Medieval elites who were wealthy due to human serfdom, the second worst thing in the world, next to slavery? What about toga parties? That's where you dress up in the clothes of an ancient Roman elite that got wealthy based on slavery and world domination. Do we have to stop all that too?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An antebellum party is racist because it is a celebration/replication of the lifestyle of the uber wealthy, slave owning, white people living on plantations in the pre Civil War south. These people owned and amassed their wealth, and were afforded this opulent lifestyle and their parties because they were slaveowners and amassed ridiculous wealth by owning other human beings.

Why would anyone have a party to celebrate this dark chapter in american history? Not a great choice for a theme for a party. Do you understand?

An antebellum party is about the clothes. I've never been to one, but I can tell you that is what I see. It also includes mint juleps. Lots of them.

It is very specifically about the clothes that the richest and most elite class of southerners wore. So everyone goes to the party dressed like elite, wealthy southern plantation owners, aka people who are wealthy from human slavery.

The opulent lifestyle of the wealthy today is still based on exploiting other humans. So, I hope you enthusiastically refuse to attend corporate functions.

I think we need to ban black shirts because that's what Steve Jobs wore while yelling at his employees to make them exploit more Chinese factory workers.
/s

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An antebellum party is racist because it is a celebration/replication of the lifestyle of the uber wealthy, slave owning, white people living on plantations in the pre Civil War south. These people owned and amassed their wealth, and were afforded this opulent lifestyle and their parties because they were slaveowners and amassed ridiculous wealth by owning other human beings.

Why would anyone have a party to celebrate this dark chapter in american history? Not a great choice for a theme for a party. Do you understand?

An antebellum party is about the clothes. I've never been to one, but I can tell you that is what I see. It also includes mint juleps. Lots of them.

It is very specifically about the clothes that the richest and most elite class of southerners wore. So everyone goes to the party dressed like elite, wealthy southern plantation owners, aka people who are wealthy from human slavery.

Yeah so? Ever heard of the Society for Creative Anacronism. where people dress up in the clothes of Medieval elites who were wealthy due to human serfdom, the second worst thing in the world, next to slavery? What about toga parties? That's where you dress up in the clothes of an ancient Roman elite that got wealthy based on slavery and world domination. Do we have to stop all that too?

Oh dear Lord you did not just compare Old South parties to LARPing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An antebellum party is racist because it is a celebration/replication of the lifestyle of the uber wealthy, slave owning, white people living on plantations in the pre Civil War south. These people owned and amassed their wealth, and were afforded this opulent lifestyle and their parties because they were slaveowners and amassed ridiculous wealth by owning other human beings.

Why would anyone have a party to celebrate this dark chapter in american history? Not a great choice for a theme for a party. Do you understand?

An antebellum party is about the clothes. I've never been to one, but I can tell you that is what I see. It also includes mint juleps. Lots of them.

It is very specifically about the clothes that the richest and most elite class of southerners wore. So everyone goes to the party dressed like elite, wealthy southern plantation owners, aka people who are wealthy from human slavery.

Yeah so? Ever heard of the Society for Creative Anacronism. where people dress up in the clothes of Medieval elites who were wealthy due to human serfdom, the second worst thing in the world, next to slavery? What about toga parties? That's where you dress up in the clothes of an ancient Roman elite that got wealthy based on slavery and world domination. Do we have to stop all that too?

My college roommate was very active in the Society for Creative Anacronism. Her character was "Dorcas," a serf. They don't all play elites, and they know an amazing about about life in the middle ages.