Charles Blow blows his horn in the New York Times |
Charles Blow blows his horn in the New York Times
Renegade South: Histories of Unconventional Southerners
2016-06-27
Victoria Bynum, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History
Texas State University, San Marcos
In today’s New York Times, opinion editor Charles Blow delivers a harsh critique of the movie, Free State of Jones, arguing that its treatment of slavery in general and the rape of slave women in particular amounts to a “genteel treatment” of the institution. Blow then turns to my book “The Free State of Jones: Mississippi’s Longest Civil War, and accuses me of using “grossly inappropriate descriptors” to characterize what in reality was rape. To demonstrate, he quotes the following passage from my book:
Through encounters with women such as Rachel, Newt knew that white men regularly crossed the color line despite laws and social taboos that forbade interracial liaisons and marriages. Rachel, light-skinned and physically attractive, was the sort of slave after whom many white men lusted. The fact that she had a white-skinned daughter announced to interested men that she had already been “initiated” into the world of interracial relations. (page 86)
With great indignation, Blow then exclaims, “Encounters? Liaisons? Initiated? Sexual relations? As long as she was a slave this was rape! Always. Period.”
I responded in the comments section of his op ed with the following:…
Read the entire article here.
Tags: Charles Blow, Charles M. Blow, New York Times, Newt Knight, Newton Knight, Rachel Knight, Renegade South, Renegade South: Histories of Unconventional Southerners, The New York Times, Victoria Bynum, Victoria E. Bynum