Was Florence Built on the Slave Trade?

 

From a reader:

As a retired school teacher/admin I'm asked a lot about Critical Race Theory and if it's being taught in local public schools. So far I haven't heard of any instances where CRT is part of the curriculum. Nevertheless I've been bothered recently by what I feel is a rewriting of history, specifically local history concerning our area's role in slavery.

Trappers and the like were here well before this area was officially opened up. We'll pick a year arbitrarily and say they arrived in 1810. The War Between the States ended in 1865. That means slavery could have been present in "Florence" for as much as 55 years. It also means there has been no legal slavery here in 156 years.

Why would anyone feel that slavery, as horrible as it was, should take up the lion's share of any comprehensive Florence history? Let's look at something. 

The Pope's Tavern Facebook page says the museum covers the years between 1818 and 1870. Granted slavery was the norm in 47 of those 52 years. Yet during those 52 years other things were happening in the town. How is Pope's Tavern representing this entire time period? Women's rights or lack of them? Child labor? Death and disease? An economy based on bartering? All these things happened during this time frame, some on a much larger scale. Who is presenting these aspects of history to our local school children?

During the month of June, the museum (curator or other employee) posted 15 times. Of those entries on the history of Florence, eight concerned slavery. There is a similar pattern in most previous months.

Perhaps it's time for more oversight of our local museums. Remember - Just as history can be presented with the bad deleted, it can also be presented with the bad amplified.

A Faithful Reader