Since I had been looking up stuff about Sully, Youtube has been suggesting videos about the civil war. Some have been about NBF, and one in particular seemed somewhat fair (had both proponents and detractors). One thing in that video that struck me was that one of the NBF fans was a black guy who's grand father or great grandfather served under him (I think he was one of his slaves, but I forget). Three (possible) facts the guy stated was that: 1) That when he was a slave trader, he never broke up families and actually purchased slaves from abusive masters and sold them to benevolent masters, 2) when NBF freed his slaves at the end of the war, every single one of them stayed with him (they also fought under him during the war), and 3) that after the war NBF quelled a possible race riot when he spoke to both the white and black leaders (making the point that if he was considered a racist, then the blacks never would have listened to him and nobody would have asked him to take that role).
I had always thought NBF was a hyper racist military genius that is worth studying for his military exploits, but not worth a damn in any other way. The BS being said about Sully and this video about NBF made me consider otherwise. I have tried to do some more internet research but there is TONS of contradictory claims. Some say he was the founder and grand wizard of the KKK, others say he was a not a founder and was at most a symbolic leader that the KKK tried to exploit for their own cause and that he actually worked to disband it. Another one said he made a speech to the Pole-Bearers association (which is claimed to be the predecessor of the NAACP), but I can't find anything on the Pole-Bearers association other than articles that make this same NBF claim. So that seems made up as hell.
So what's the story, history board?
I had always thought NBF was a hyper racist military genius that is worth studying for his military exploits, but not worth a damn in any other way. The BS being said about Sully and this video about NBF made me consider otherwise. I have tried to do some more internet research but there is TONS of contradictory claims. Some say he was the founder and grand wizard of the KKK, others say he was a not a founder and was at most a symbolic leader that the KKK tried to exploit for their own cause and that he actually worked to disband it. Another one said he made a speech to the Pole-Bearers association (which is claimed to be the predecessor of the NAACP), but I can't find anything on the Pole-Bearers association other than articles that make this same NBF claim. So that seems made up as hell.
So what's the story, history board?