Recording history is very important. History tells us about how our ancestors lived, and knowing it will give you a solid foundation for discerning between right and wrong. Looking back at our history can prevent us from making the same mistakes that were made before. God even commanded us to remember the past. Mankind recorded history through books, songs, and stories that were passed on through generations, but those records can be confusing. Just reading and hearing about something doesn’t give you a clear understanding or view on what happened before. To actually see history through photos gives you a better understanding. A man who contributed to making history clearer during the Civil War is Mathew Brady. There is little record of Mathew …show more content…
People liked them, and critics favored his decorations and galleries in them. Brady photographed famous people such as Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, Zachary Zaylor, and Millard Fillmore. Brady was the one who took the photo of Abraham Lincoln that was used for the five dollar bill. He was successful in his studio. As a result, Brady became a famous and well-known photographer. The Civil War was going to take place, and no one except Brady was willing to document it. He was obstinate to do it because he believed that it was his job. He said, “From the first, I regarded myself under obligation to my country to preserve the faces of historic men and mothers.” Brady hired a group of photographers and invested $100,000 dollars in his project. Not only did Brady risk his money, but he also risked his life. While taking the pictures, Brady came under direct fire at the battlefields, and after photographing one of the battles, he became lost for three days and almost starved to death. He and his group managed to stay alive throughout the whole war. They photographed thousands of photos that included battlefields and camp life. Brady was the first photographer to ever completely document a
Between the years of 1812-1885, Martin R. Delaney was an African-American abolitionist, physician, journalist, and soldier. Delaney was one of the first three black men that attended to the Harvard Medical School as well as the first African-Americans to be a field officer for the Union Army during, the Civil War. After the war he worked in the "Freedmen's Bureau" in 1865 and wrote his model contract for landowners and Sharecroppers
In The Afterlives of a Confederate Archive, Yael Sternhell encourages the reader to journey deeper into the archive. Elucidating how archives are constructed by humankind — people with agendas and perspectives — he quickly dispatches with some common misconceptions regarding archives. The annals of amassed historic material have not, in fact, aged into apolitical constructions. Historical catalogs are not only political at the date of their inception, but are also shaped by broader social and cultural forces. With great disciplinary acuity, Sternhell provides an example of his argument, providing an insightful critique of a supposedly objective archive. Sternhell examines the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, the quintessential
“The human cost of the Civil War was beyond anybody's expectations. The young nation experienced bloodshed of a magnitude that has not been equaled since by any other American conflict.” (Civil War
-This timeline is important because it lists all the important events that happened during Reconstruction. Without having a timeline, we wouldn’t know the vital events that happened in history. We may not even know if Reconstruction happened if there happened to be no timeline of events at that
The Civil War made really a tragic long lasting effect on a family unit of that period. During Civil War, families on both sides of the war had to bear a pain of personal loss. Husbands and fathers and sons died not in hundreds but in thousands of numbers in both the North and South
Remembering the Civil War is also a way of remembering what the way of life that was lost in the South.
History books will always be the way they are forever and always. There is no going back and changing what happened in the past, but that doesn’t mean the future will entail the same outcomes. For example, my hometown of Paducah, Kentucky was occupied by the Union army for the majority of the war, but Paducah Tilghman High School is actually named after the wife of General Lloyd Tilghman, an officer in the Confederate Army. There so happens to be a statue of Lloyd Tilghman himself in front of the original school building. The statue was donated by the children of Lloyd as well as the money needed to build a High School in memory of their
The memory of the Civil War is vital for history and needs to be taught and preserved, so that the current and future citizens of the world can learn from others’ mistakes and take time to remember the lives that were lost.
For example, when we freed the slaves and helped them integrate into society, it enabled our country to benefit from the diversity that integration brought forth. It also highlighted deep biases and prejudices that would need to be dealt with by future generations. As a population, if we do not understand the history of our social justice movements and how we have struggled in the past, we are doomed to repeat some of the problems our ancestors had worked to overcome. This is why it is so important to teach our children the truth about our history so, when they are the leaders and make up the voting population one day, they will be able to make appropriate decisions and not repeat our mistakes. Not telling our kids the whole truth about our history is lying and depriving them of the knowledge that they will need to move this country forward. Just as it is the government's responsibility to help its citizens in need, it is also the government's responsibility to make sure that its children learn the truth about who has been in need and how they were helped so that we continue to make progress in social justice for everyone who lives
Write your Civil War ancestor’s story as you do your research. Don’t let the dates and facts accumulate in a file on your desktop. Document his story as you go. You may only have a few lines to start with but add to his journey as you uncover facts in your research. It’s important to continually add to your Civil War ancestor’s narrative and then share it. Post his story on your website and Facebook page. Don’t let his life slip through the creases of
Brady grew up in the mid-1800’s in the state of New York, where he was tutored in the arts. Brady enjoyed his lessons so much that he opened a studio for his paintings and miniature portraits. Brady became very popular with the public, and when he started to gain fame in his career, he moved to Washington D.C. where he married his wife, Juliette Handy. He opened The National Photographic Art Gallery and published a book filled with photographs of famous Americans such as Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson. At this time, Brady was also getting attention from the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. In fact, it was Brady who took the now iconic picture of Lincoln that is on the five-dollar bill still today (“Mathew Brady”). Brady was passionate about his career in photography and wanted to take it to another level. As controversy over the Civil War arose, Brady felt compelled to capture the war like no one had done before. Although people warned him of the dangers and risks of going into the war zone with his photography equipment Brady was determined to make it happen. After securing permission, he said his most famous words: “I can only describe the destiny that overruled me by saying…I had to go. A spirit in my feet said, ‘Go,’ and I went,” (Murray 59). This quote helps to illustrate his conviction and his willingness to go wherever necessary in order to tell the
It is another way of learning where we came from as a nation. By learning about the acts accomplished by those who preceded us, we are able learn more in depth about how our country is the way it is now. For example, the Battle of Vimy Ridge Canada took centre stage and it was the marking point of when Canada became its own country that could be seen as something separate to the
To know the past is to know the future. In his essay Knowing History and Knowing Who We Are, David McCullough argues about the importance of studying and teaching history. In his essay, he explains that there are three main points about history: character and its effect upon destiny, our failure of teaching the future generation, and the importance of learning and listening to history. David McCullough strongly advocates that audience should start to listen to and teach about the past in order to learn about the way a person’s character can affect their destiny.
Americas history is what defines us and who we are as a country. We were built on hard work, sacrifice, wanting to be free and independent to be who we want to. Now a-days, we seem to have fallen away from this. Everything is given to us so easily on our computer and through technology that we have no need to work hard anymore. This is the downfall in humanity because as we keep going, life will continue to get easier and we won’t want to do anything. History is our hope so that we can learn from what we did in our past and how things were done then.For starters, we can see what mistakes we did and make sure we don’t do them again. If we continue to the same thing over and over again, there’s no way for our society to improve from this. Our
They loved him and even knew the year Bill first photographed them. One of these admirers said “We all get dressed for Bill.” Which I found true by the way he chooses who to photograph and who not to. Bill finds beauty, watching him; people find joy.