One thing that really struck me from class was this statement that was raised about George Wallace, and how he was a born-again Christian and basically flipped his whole belief system and believed that the Civil Rights movement was right. I think I remembered vaguely hearing about George Wallace in middle or high school, and I didn’t know that much about him, but the picture of him standing in the doorway of the school was something I remember seeing. It seems to be that that is how he will be remembered for all of history, right? As this jerk who went against the Civil Rights movement and didn’t want schools to be desegregated and, based off that information, hated blacks? I looked him up to see what would come up under images, and one of the first pictures that came up was the picture of him standing in the doorway, but in the next row down, we see a picture of Wallace, obviously an aged man, sitting next to a smiling African American man. When I clicked on that picture, I found out that that man was Rev. Jesse Jackson who was a “presidential hopeful”. The caption also stated that Wallace had “In the 1980’s renounced his segregationist views, and he won his last term as governor (1983-87) with support from black voters.” (CBS News). Obviously this is important information that those who do not know much about Wallace more than likely are unaware of, but it raises this question of how are we remembered?
Is it more easy to remember people who are on the wrong side of history, and is that the way you will always be remembered, even if your views change? What can be considered the “wrong” side of history? I found the answer to this first question to probably be an easy yes given Wallace’s story, but the second question makes both questions quite difficult to answer. For those who today still believe that blacks and whites should be segregated and the Civil Rights movement was bad for America (I fear there are more people out there who think like this than I would like to know), the Civil Rights movement must have been an awful thing for them, and the leaders like Dr.King and Malcolm X must be seen as horrible and bad people to them. So I wonder for people like this, how do they remember George Wallace? Do they see him as a hero as those who fought for the Civil Rights movement see Dr.King, or are they embarrassed by him because he was on the “right” side of history, but flipped to advocate for the “wrong” side of history? This was another idea that I had about people being considered “sell-outs”, and this word for me has always meant people who are cowardly and sell-out their own beliefs for something they think would be better for them and ultimately make them look better.
I believe the stronger someone’s beliefs are in something and the harder they advocate for those beliefs, the worse they are going to look if they betray those beliefs for the other side, and the more of a “sell-out” they are going to look like. In the book “1968”, I wonder if the people who protested and were strong advocates of the revolution who then went on to become involved in politics maybe even for the opposing side are ever called sell-outs. This idea also made me wonder what would have happened if Dr.King had suddenly flipped his views on the movement? Obviously this seems like an almost impossible thing for him to do, but I’m also sure many believed that of George Wallace, and he did it. Had Dr.King said that yes blacks and whites should be segregated and separate was equal, etc. how would people have reacted and viewed him? I think they would view him as a sell-out to his beliefs because of how hard he advocated for the movement, and this brings us back to the question of the “right” and “wrong” side of history. Are fewer people going to be sell-outs when they are on the “right” side, especially when they know they are going to win? The issue with this is that the people advocating for the “wrong” side will still believe they are on the “right” side at the time, but they may look back later on and realize they were wrong. So, objectively there must be a “right” side, but “right” and “wrong” may get mixed when one looks at history subjectively.
I think your point of the “right” and “wrong” side of history is very interesting. I agree with you that most of the time people are remembered for the wrong things they do because that is what sticks with others. However, do people’s views really change? Or do they change because society’s view of the matter has changed? This is what stuck with me. Obviously, I am aware that people grow up and their views/thoughts are changed through experience but are that what happened with Wallace? Or did Wallace change his segregationist views based on society’s change in their thoughts toward segregation? Do people really change?
The question you proposed is a great one. How are we remembered? You mentioned how our subjective view of history is ultimately a determining factor in this and this is true on a variety of levels. Who determines how we are remembered? How has our perspective on George Wallace been formed? We know he flipped his views and that ultimately played a huge role in his political career, and we know his actions sent shockwaves around the civil rights movement and why he would be remembered for that. But who is influencing our perspective of him and how has it become so commonplace?
I really enjoyed reading about your answer to the question “how are we remembered?”. I spent a few moments after class on Wednesday ended to think about my answer to that question that was brought up during the discussion. Like we discussed in class, people tend to be remembered by something ‘bad’ they did in their life, or a mistake that they made, as it is easier to remember than something good. However, in my opinion, the perceived ‘winners’ of events rewrite history. MLK is remembered as a hero, the reason why the country celebrates MLK day each year, to commemorate his actions and thoughts as a leader for this country. However, what if the Confederacy had won the American civil war? Would MLK still have been perceived as a hero? I’m not so sure.
The Union winning the Civil War was a step in the right direction for racial equality as it was a step towards banning slavery. But if the Confederacy had won, would there even have been an opportunity for African Americans to revolt and start the Civil Rights movement? Context plays a large role in how people are remembered.