As We Waited for Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., to Arrive Late One Fall

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As We Waited for Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., to Arrive Late One Fall John Tucker Interpreting Slavery and Civil Rights at Fort Sumter National Monument s we waited for Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., to arrive late one fall day in 1997, we wondered aloud as to the real purpose of his visit. To my knowledge, never before had a twentieth-century African American congressman representing a Northern state set foot on Fort Sumter— Amuch less any congressman from Illinois. As with any good bureaucratic system, the park received calls from other Civil War battlefield superintendents as Jackson traveled through Georgia following the trail of General William Tecumseh Sherman traveled some 133 years past. As he moved about the South, we heard about his impression of the battlefields and the ongoing interpretive efforts. Was Jackson planning to lay waste to these park interpretive efforts and the park managers? What would be his impression of Fort Sumter and the inter- pretive efforts underway? Would he be impressed with Fort Sumter and the story surrounding its important role in American history? Would the congressman chastise the staff for not accomplishing his agenda items? As is the case for most VIP tours, the congressman was running late. Fort Sumter National Monument Grand Army of the Republic in the was authorized in April 1948 by a sim- post-Civil War period. Most efforts by ple act of Congress. The legislation these patriotic and civic organizations states that the monument “shall be a focused on healing the division public national memorial commemo- between North and South. Reuniting rating historical events at or near Fort the country was a top priority.Military Sumter.” Without further direction parks were authorized to commemo- from Congress, the National Park Ser- rate the heroic events and deeds that vice (NPS) relied upon its staff to clar- occurred on the hallowed grounds ify the interpretive purposes for Fort where blood was spilled by both Sumter National Monument. Interpre- Northern and Southern soldiers. Con- tation consisted of guides leading gress had abandoned efforts at Recon- small groups to interesting spots with- struction in the South and lacked the in the fort. resolve necessary to guarantee the During this period, the NPS inter- rights of citizenship to newly freed pretive focus for battlefields was on slaves. The country was not ready for the “slice of time commemorative the social revolution reflected in the experience.” In all likelihood, this 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to approach to interpretation came out of the Constitution. The role of slavery the battlefield commemorations con- and the rights promised to black ducted by veteran’s groups such as the Americans were forgotten in the rush Sons of Confederate Veterans and the to reunify the country and memorial- Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 15 ize a brothers’ war. The nation’s mili- after Fort Sumter was authorized, the tary parks reflected this atmosphere. nation was again struggling in a very Mid-twentieth century America public fashion with questions of race was fraught with civil unrest as the and equality.From the adoption of the freedoms promised 100 years ago Constitution in 1787 to the 1950s, began to emerge. It was during this era questions of citizenship and equality of emerging civil rights that Fort were enmeshed in the power of poli- Sumter’s interpretive program began tics. Although the Civil War had freed to take shape. When NPS published the slaves and for a short time visited the first master plan for Fort Sumter in certain rights on them, by the turn of the 1950s, the fort’s interpretive pro- the twentieth century freedom was still gram was based on the 1860 election very limited for African Americans. of President Abraham Lincoln, the As the nation entered the 1960s, secession of South Carolina, and the Fort Sumter was preparing for the subsequent movement of Major Civil War Centennial in 1961. Fort Robert Anderson from Fort Moultrie Sumter was sitting in Charleston to Fort Sumter. The major focus was Harbor, surrounded by one of the on the initial Confederate attack of most conservative communities in the 1861 and the Federal bombardments nation, as slave descendants began of 1863 and 1864, known as the Siege demonstrating for their rights across of Charleston. These components America. The seriousness of segrega- made up the interpretive programs tion was highlighted by events of the offered at the fort. Civil War Centennial Commission in During the following decade, once Charleston: the archeology was completed, perma- The manner in which those controver- nent exhibit facilities were needed to sies and disputes could generate an atmosphere bearing at least some enhance the visitor experience at Fort resemblance to a century earlier was Sumter. A new museum was con- illustrated at Charleston, South structed with Mission 66 funding in Carolina, in April of 1961, at the com- the disappearing gun position of Bat- memoration of the centennial of the tery Huger—an Endicott Battery com- beginning of hostilities at Fort Sumter. For that occasion, the Civil pleted in 1899. But the focus of inter- War Centennial Commission, an offi- pretation did not appreciably expand cial body established by act of with the museum exhibits. The events Congress, had arranged a “national of 1861 and the bombardments of assembly” of centennial organiza- 1863-64 remained the central inter- tions of the various States. When a Negro woman member of the New pretive themes. Throughout the Jersey Centennial Commission report- 1970s and 1980s, interpretation ed that she had been denied a room changed little at Fort Sumter. at the headquarters hotel in Clearly, two major influences were Charleston because of her race, the at work during the early years of Fort Commissions of several “Northern” States announced that they would not Sumter National Monument. First, as take part in the assembly at articulated by Thomas J. Pressly,was a Charleston. At the insistence of the “climate of opinion.” Immediately President of the United States, the 16 The George Wright FORUM Figure 1. Mission 66 exhibit at Fort Sumter. National Park Service photo. place of meeting was transferred to The second major influence origi- the nearby non-segregated United nated with the commemorative activi- States naval base. Thereupon, the ties of both North and South after the members of the South Carolina Centennial Commission, almost as if war. Efforts to honor family heroes they had read the stage directions and comrades-in-arms led the nation from a script written in 1860-1861, to view battles as important events seceded from the national representing gallant behavior. It would Commission. Ultimately, two com- have been far more difficult for memoration meetings were held, one under the auspices of the national America to discuss the causes of the Commission at the naval base, and a war and the still-unfulfilled guarantees second meeting at the original head- of citizenship. Similarly, the National quarters hotel sponsored by “The Park Service followed this course Confederate States Centennial throughout most of the 20th century. Conference.” It thus seemed possible to re-create in the United States of the Park rangers preferred to discuss bat- 1960’s a recognizable facsimile of tlefield strategy and gallant actions by the climate of opinion of the 1860’s, fallen heroes rather than discuss the even if the occasion itself was actions and events that truly led to the momentous only as a symbol.1 opening shot at Fort Sumter. To further confound the issue, in It was in this climate that Fort Sumter the 1970s NPS issued a new master began forming its interpretative pro- plan for Fort Sumter. In this plan gram. much of the emphasis was on Fort Volume 19 • Number 4 2002 17 Moultrie to ready it for the bicentenni- long before Congress or the NPS al of the nation. It is interesting that Washington office identified it as a Fort Moultrie was to be developed need. Interpretive efforts such as those much as an outdoor museum depict- begun at Fort Sumter in the early ing seacoast defenses from 1776 to 1990s were reflected in many Civil 1947. However, “Fort Sumter on the War sites around the country. other hand, will be maintained and Washington supported these individ- interpreted for public use and enjoy- ual park efforts. NPS regional offices ment as a ‘slice of time’— [a] singular- helped formalize the efforts with a ly significant period during the 200 multi-regional conference of battle- years of coastal fortifications that is field superintendents, held in found in the history of the Civil War at Nashville during the summer of 1997. Charleston.”2 Still the fundamental In this new environment, the inter- question of why the war started in pretation at Fort Sumter began to Charleston was not answered. change. At the beginning of the last Fort Sumter and Charleston’s re- decade, the park interpretive program evaluation of the Civil War could not consisted of Lincoln’s election and the wait any longer. With the election of Civil War era. Interpretive staffing was Mayor Joseph P. Riley in 1975, marginally sufficient to keep the visitor Charleston would soon recognize that use sites open on a day-to-day basis. its early economy was actually based The park did not have a historian on on rice, not “King Cotton.” From this staff. When the question “Why did the understanding, Charlestonians have nation separate?” was asked, it could begun to realize that highly skilled not be adequately answered. slaves were imported from the Gold Another of the driving forces in the Coast of Africa to cultivate the many Fort Sumter interpretive plan was a rice fields of the Lowcountry, making need to change the vintage Mission 66 large profits for the planter class.
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