Forgetting and the Forgotten: A Thousand Years of Contested Histories in the Heartland (Shawnee Bks.)

By:

Sign Up Now! Already a Member? Log In
You must be logged into Bookshare to access this title. Learn about membership options, or view our freely available titles.

Synopsis
Histories try to forget, as this evocative study of one community reveals. This book details the nature of how a community forged its story against outsiders.

Historian Michael C. Batinski explores the habits of forgetting that enable communities to create an identity based on silencing competing narratives. The white settlers of Jackson County, Illinois, shouldered the hopes of a community and believed in the justice of their labor as it echoed the national story. The county's past keepers, or keepers of the past, emphasizing the white settlers' republican virtue, chose not to record violence against Kaskaskia people and African Americans and to disregard the numerous transient laborers. Instead of erasing the presence of outsiders, the past keepers could offer only silence, but it was a silence that could be broken.

Batinski's historiography critically examines local historical thought in a way that illuminates national history. What transpired in Jackson County was repeated in countless places throughout the nation. At the same time, national history writing rarely turns to experiences that can be found in local archives such as court records, genealogical files, archaeological reports, coroner's records, and veterans' pension files.

In this archive, juxtaposed with the familiar actors of Jackson County history—Benningsen Boon, John A. Logan, and Daniel Brush—appear the Sky People, Italian immigrant workers, black veterans of the Civil War and later champions of civil rights whose stories challenge the dominant narrative.

Copyright:
2021

Book Details

Book Quality:
Excellent
Book Size:
268 Pages
ISBN-13:
9780809338375
Publisher:
Southern Illinois University Press
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
The Board of Trustees, Southern Illinois University
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
History, Nonfiction
Submitted By:
Worth Trust
Proofread By:
Worth Trust
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

Reviews

No Rating Yet