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“The blacks are immeasurably better off here than in Africa, morally, socially & physically. The painful discipline they are undergoing, is necessary for their instruction as a race, & I hope will prepare & lead them to better things.” -Robert E. Lee, racist piece of shit traitor
That’s from a letter he wrote to the Times to “correct” a report that he ignored the wishes of his father-in-law, who asked that his slaves be freed on his death. He freed them according to the will, which said within five years.
During those years, he ordered lashings.
During those years, he ordered lashings.
This account from Wesley Norris, a former Custis family slave, comes from testimony he gave to the National Anti-Slavery Standard, the official newspaper of the American Anti-Slavery Society. It’s motto was Without Concealment, Without Conpromise. fair-use.org/wesley-norris/…
“it was the general impression among the slaves of Mr. Custis that on his death they should be forever free; in fact this statement had been made to them by Mr. C. years before; at his death we were informed by Gen. Lee that by the conditions of the will we must remain slaves”
Because no white men were present at the time Custis told his slaves they were to be freed upon his death, there was no legal standing to change the will. Courts would not accept the legal testimony of black people.
Lee made them suffer 5 more years simply because he could.
Lee made them suffer 5 more years simply because he could.
When Lee caught the escapees, he asked them why they had run. From Norris’ testimony:
“we frankly told him that we considered ourselves free; he then told us he would teach us a lesson we never would forget”
Lee was no hero. He was a small man. A painfully ordinary villain.
“we frankly told him that we considered ourselves free; he then told us he would teach us a lesson we never would forget”
Lee was no hero. He was a small man. A painfully ordinary villain.
Norris should have a statue tbqh. He went on to become an employee of the government that had failed him so greatly, working on the same land where he’d spent so many years enslaved. Arlington House was confiscated by the federal government when Mrs. Lee failed to pay taxes.
In June of 1864, Brig. Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs, Quartermaster General of the U.S. Army, appropriated the grounds for a military cemetery as a deliberate fuck you to Lee. He wanted to be sure Lee would never return. In fact he ordered himself buried within 100 yards of the house.
The government created a community on the property called Freedman’s Village. More than 1,100 freed slaves were given land on Lee’s estate.
Lee’s son sued, saying the property was illegally confiscated. The Supreme Court agreed. We paid $150k for Arlington National Cemetery.
Lee’s son sued, saying the property was illegally confiscated. The Supreme Court agreed. We paid $150k for Arlington National Cemetery.
And for some reason, we still call Arlington House the Robert E. Lee Memorial, as if we didn’t start burying our military dead there to spite a bigot and a traitor.
We should probably rename it the Lost Cause Memorial. nps.gov/arho/index.htm
We should probably rename it the Lost Cause Memorial. nps.gov/arho/index.htm
Robert E. Lee’s brother visited Arlington House in December of 1865 and noted that it could be livable again if they just moved the graves. So Meigs ordered even more burials near the house.
And he stamped his name on the goddamn front gate.
I aspire to this level of pettiness.
And he stamped his name on the goddamn front gate.
I aspire to this level of pettiness.
The origin story of Arlington National Cemetery is tragic and beautiful. And the moral is this:
If you want to persist in your racist traitor bullshit, America will take up arms against you, confiscate your home, and bury our dead in your front yard.
Do not test us.
If you want to persist in your racist traitor bullshit, America will take up arms against you, confiscate your home, and bury our dead in your front yard.
Do not test us.
