Linda Hoy – 9/28/2010 Message
Subject: thank you
Hello. Thank you very much for friending this “yankee.” I do have Southern roots in Virginia that go way back to 1620. When it comes to Civil War history in my family – I am sadly clueless. Things just fail to add up! Family stories of slaveholders (in the North? That side of the family was pretty freakin poor come 1900) and a little girl (around the 19-teens in small town PA) playing hide-n-seek finding a Klan uniform hanging in the back of a closet (belonging to her sister’s husband) have me totally mystified as to what was going on in this country up North. Looking forward to learning more. Things that have been bothering me: Why would a bunch of Southern poor people who never had slaves or could afford them fight for the right to own them? Why is there so much racial anger directed at whites in the North by blacks and vice versa if the North was such a safe haven? And why in my visits to Atlanta, Georgia, did I find a cordial relationship and friendliness – southern hospitality so to speak – from both races and a thriving black middle class. Thank you so very much for your time and any light you will shed on this matter.
Linda
