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Ripley OH: an abolitionist stronghold.
This is the restored home of John P. Parker,
a noted African-American abolitionist |
I agree somewhat that the
American Civil War was about States rights, but one must remember that the main right the Southern states wanted to preserve was the right to own black people as property while the Northern states were making progress to end the practice. If the South had won the war, we would have had a separate country to the south of the US called the
Confederate States of America where slavery remained legal for at least several decades longer. The end result of this war was preserving the Union and the
13th Amendment abolishing slavery in
one of the last holdouts in the Western Hemisphere. It was a great leap forward for human rights in the US, which we all know is supposed to be the land of the free.
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top to bottom:
1st (Stars and Bars),
2nd, 3rd National flags
of the CSA. The rebel
battle flag is last. |
So too bad about the
Confederate flag. This is a good time to point out that this flag was never the official national flag of the CSA, it was the battle flag used by the
Army of Northern Virginia under General Lee and the
Army of Tennessee, the largest CSA field army. The first national flag was the Stars and Bars. The second national flag did incorporate the more familiar rebel flag as did the third.
People that display the rebel flag in modern times like to say
"it's about heritage, not hate". Maybe the flag had noble origins to some but that doesn't really matter now. The Southern states dashed that notion when they started
a war which cost the lives of 750,000 people. The Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups also dashed that notion when they
used this flag to terrorize and murder African-Americans in post-Antebellum America. The states of Mississippi and Georgia yet again dashed that notion when it was used as a protest against school integration in the 1950s. The Confederate flag flew over the Alabama state capitol from 1961-1993. On June 11th, 1963 the
University of Alabama was desegregated by Federal force while Gov. George "segregation forever" Wallace,
protested in front of the school doors and 5 years later
used the Confederate flag in his Presidential bid. Wow, that's some heritage! I hate to invoke
Godwin's Law but the
swastika was a perfectly acceptable symbol to many cultures for centuries until the Nazis appropriated it. Same thing. No one is walking around with a swastika on their shirt or truck unless they want to be known as a white supremacist. So Mississippi, follow Georgia's lead and get the rebel battle flag of oppression off your US State flag. Oh also, enough with the
passive aggressive license plates, 10 US States offer the flag as an option. I realize you think that this is the good old days but please stop. It's embarrassing y'all.
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| Rankin House |
So what does this have to do with Ohio history?
On a beautiful sunny Easter weekend in April 2014 I visited the Ohio towns of Point Pleasant, Ripley and Georgetown. My main objective was
geocaching but the route I planned had an unplanned common thread. In the 19th century, Southwest Ohio and towns along the Ohio River were a hotbed of
Underground Railroad activity, there are signs and markers everywhere and many of the structures still stand or have been restored. This was also the area that future President US Grant was born and raised. You've probably heard of him. He helped win that Civil War that some Southerners are still mad about losing.
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| from KY across the Ohio to freedom |
The Rankin House in Ripley is probably the most famous stop on the Underground Railroad. For 40 years, Reverend John Rankin, at risk of imprisonment himself due to the
1850 Fugitive Slave Act, helped over 2000 slaves flee the US to Canada. One of these escaped slave stories inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe's
Uncle Toms Cabin, about which Lincoln famously remarked upon meeting the author,
"So you're the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war!" A nearby marker in town states that a Confederate General wanted to burn this "abolitionist hell hole of Ripley" to the ground. Everyone knew what happened in Ripley. So the town bought a cannon as a defense against any Confederates who decided to invade. It turns out that they didn't have to use it since the infamous Rebels known as Morgan's Raid only got within a mile of Ripley. They still have the cannon proudly displayed in front of their library. The town of Ripley has built up quite a heritage tourism industry around its role in abolition and they should be proud of it. America should be proud of it. Everyone that lives or passes through Ripley surely knows these things.
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| despicable display |
As I approach one of the many signs pointing the way to the famous Rankin House perched 300 feet high upon a hill overlooking the Ohio River, something catches my eye. It's a Confederate flag flapping from the front porch of a tiny home not 200 feet from the only road up the hill to the house. In this context, this is not about heritage, the person that lives here is clearly making a statement. I started thinking of all the African-Americans that have passed by here to see the land where their ancestors first saw hope for freedom... and this is what they will see when they arrive. This mocking display thumbs its nose at the bloody struggle that occurred over 150 years ago. What else is anyone supposed to think when they see this well-defined symbol of racism fluttering on this hallowed ground? So get the rebel Confederate battle flag off your porch, it's embarrassing.
