Mapping Freedom

The overall theme of this article, by Edward L. Ayers, is of the history and migration of African-Americans after the Civil War, using images and video to illustrate his piece. Quoting Bob Dylan, Ayers rightly refers to the Civil War as "one long funeral song", with thousands dying in a cruel war fought between people who had "use[d] the same God, quoted the same Bible" yet forgot their unity and descended into bitter hatred and warfare. Of course, as Ayers also observes, the Civil War allowed for the emancipation of America's four million slaves, a freedom denied for over two hundred years to them and their ancestors, with the federal government refusing to give compensation to slave-owners.

The first image Ayers provides is a graph indicated the frequency of which the word "emancipation" is mentioned in newspapers in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, between 1858 and 1868. The article notes that the frequency "emancipation" is mentioned peaked in 1862, before rapidly diminishing. Ayers appears to extrapolate these figures to represent all northern newspapers, which is a bit odd, considering that his reference is two newspapers in one county of one state, hardly a large enough sample group to represent all newspapers in the north. In addition, though "emancipation" does peak in 1862 before rapidly declining, he fails to mention that, even in 1862, the word is only mentioned eight times by these papers. Further, he doesn't factor why "emancipation", as well as "slavery" (another key word in papers at the time) declined in usage: they were topical issues in the lead up to the Civil War, and especially so in the lead up to January 1, 1863, when the Emancipation Proclamation came into effect. The simple reason why these key words declined, in much the same way that any topical issues does, is that once enacted by Congress and instituted across the union, the issue died away.

I did like what he had to say about history as a subject, declaring it to be a projection which allows us to comprehend what has occurred, allowing us to use precedent to guess what may happen in future. Comparison is made between using history to predict future acts and using climate to predict the weather: it gives a good indicator but isn't always accurate, yet  allows us to understand what has happened and why. It's an analogy I enjoy, and I'll be sure to add it to conversation I ever have with someone who queries the worth of history (Something which rarely happens to me, I'm glad to say. I like to think that people have a large respect for history!). A second metaphor is mentioned, attributed to Fernand Braudel, who explained history to be:

"An incredible number of dice, always rolling, dominate and determine each individual existence: uncertainty, then, in the realm of individual history; but in that of collective history . . . simplicity and consistency."

It certainly puts to shame my own interpretation of what history is, and why it's important: that it is current affairs, set in the past, but useful to explain the actions of our predecessors and as a guide for our own actions. 

Finally, Ayers deals with an important aspect of the fallout of the Civil War, perhaps one which is not often reflected on, if mentioned in the first place: the human history of African-Americans freed by the Emancipation Proclamation and the Union victory in the war. Having illustrated this history with two examples, Ayers explains that these historical events are in the past to us, but are events which happened to real people, in real time. One of the freedoms associated with the emancipation was the freedom of movement, a freedom naturally denied to slaves. A series of maps indicating the migrations of African-Americans from the south-east coast of the United States into the north, west, and south illustrate the movement from the agricultural heartlands of the deep south to the wealthier industrialised north and the new frontier towns and cities of the west. 

Overall, it's an article which emphasises the need to include images and video, not just to illustrate arguments in an article, but to make the subject more interesting to the reader, as well as show information which the reader can use to make their own judgements. The fact that I was able to query the limitations of the newspapers Ayers used could only have happened because it was provided to me, a positive step to allow for greater interaction with, and commentary of, articles.