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The Tennessee Conservative [By Adelia Kirchner] –
A controversial historical figure from the Civil War era, Nathan Bedford Forrest, is slated to be removed from Tennessee’s eighth-grade social studies standards.
While online discourse and city council votes continue to demand that “problematic” historical monuments be torn down and replaced with more honorable historical figures, others argue that erasing our history and getting rid of the things that remind us of what came before is a sure way to repeat the same mistakes.
It’s now been about two years since cancel-culture controversy surrounding Nathan Bedford Forrest and his connections to the Confederate South took over news media headlines across the state.
Bill Carey, Founder of the nonprofit Tennessee History for Kids, would even say that Forrest is “by far the most controversial figure in Tennessee history.”
In June 2021 the remains of Forrest and his wife were dug up from their resting place at Health Sciences Park, formerly Forrest Park, and relocated to a vault in West Tennessee. In July 2021 a bust of Forrest was moved from the Capitol to the Tennessee State Museum.
A statue of Forrest on a piece of private property alongside I-65 south of downtown Nashville was also torn down in December 2021.
Now Forrest’s name and story have been slated for removal from eighth-grade classrooms across the state.
A brief historical summary of Forrest’s life can be found here.
Despite coming from humble beginnings, Forrest would go on to be criticized for various life choices including his involvement in the slave trade.
“By 1857 Forrest was one of the best-known slave traders in the mid-South,” Carey writes. “With branch offices all over the Mississippi River Valley, Forrest made a lot of money buying enslaved people […] and selling them.”
During the Civil War, he enlisted and was swiftly promoted to a lieutenant colonel in command of the 3rd Tennessee Confederate Cavalry.
In 1864, Forrest and his men conducted what would be deemed the Fort Pillow Massacre at a Union fortress on the Mississippi River in Tennessee. The fortress was guarded by hundreds of African American Union soldiers.
Carey says that “According to Northern newspapers, Confederate troops continued to kill Union soldiers as they attempted to surrender.” Forrest and his men would go on to refute such accusations, but Forrest was largely credited and blamed for the event.
Post-Civil War, Forrest held a position of leadership in the Ku Klux Klan from 1867-1869, a time when the group frequently committed acts of violence against African Americans.
However, “by 1869,” Carey says, “Forrest reportedly believed that the Klan was ungovernable and that its methods were doing damage to the South. He withdrew […] and even ordered it to be disbanded.”
Ultimately, Nathan Bedford Forrest is a part of both Tennessee and U.S. history.
The question is, will we allow the next generation to gain perspective on history in order to bring about better outcomes in the future, or will we continue to erase every negative aspect of history until there is nothing left for them to learn from?
About the Author: Adelia Kirchner is a Tennessee resident and reporter for the Tennessee Conservative. Currently the host of Subtle Rampage Podcast, she has also worked for the South Dakota State Legislature and interned for Senator Bill Hagerty’s Office in Nashville, Tennessee. You can reach Adelia at adelia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
16 Responses
To rewrite History, does not change History.
Those that do not know History are forever destined to repeat History.
The West is now repeating History.
Agreed.
How are erasing these historical events and persons going to improve our culture and critical thinking?
What a bunch of lazy marxist u are.
Its Disgusting How You Woke Communist are Destroying Our Country And Its History Just To Appease a few Communist Leftist Woke Freaks For 60 years ive been so Proud of Our State Till You Woke Leftist Scum Let This Communist Treason Take Place
This is ridiculous.
History is history regardless!
Stupid liberals!
Good. There’s only a limited amount of time for history in school – don’t waste it. There isn’t anything good for kids to learn about Nathan Bedford Forrest. Spend the time on American heroes like Washington, Ben Franklin, Lincoln, Dr. King, etc. who can be role models for kids.
It’s the Leftists and Race Hustlers who want schools to teach about Nathan Bedford Forrest because it ties in with their propaganda that all White people are evil and America is racist and should pay Reparations.
You obviously do not know the pivotal role he played in bringing unification post civil war and his leadership in bridging the divide between African Americans and white Southerners
You should study a bit of history yourself and stop being lead around by your nose.
Don’t let Tennessee’s leftists remove the history and monuments of controversial American figures. Students should be able to study these people and learn why they took the positions they did. We’re already seeing too many blue state policies being introduced in Tennessee. Don’t let the censoring of history be the next one.
The more that the, liberal, socialist, communist, try to destroy, and lie about Southern history, the tighter I cling to it! You idiots are going to hang your selves.
1K times the man any of the pukes who want him deleted are.
The ignorant Cancel Culture are already repeating history as like the Salem Witch hunts and are too stupid to know it. History may be removed but does not change anything.
Great comments above, and all true enough…those who erase, forget or ignore history are destined to repeat it. How sad. But, remember those that would have us remove our historical figures and facts from our country, are not liberals, they are leftists! There’s a big difference. Leftists are patient, but they will DESTROY everything they touch, and they become Marxists when they grow up. So, as the saying goes, future generations are on the brink of repeating this nation’s greatest mistakes because leftist intend on removing ‘offensive facts and figures’ from our public squares, our highway and our history books one fact and one figure at a time. We’ve experienced Marxist policies like political correctness over the past 15 years, and ‘forgetting’ the ills of slavery is just another avenue to erase our memory so they can do it again, this time it’ll be the tyranny of government…. “you’ll own nothing and like it”!
What’s next? The erasure of President George Washington from US history classes? The removal of him from the US one-dollar bill. How about Thomas Jefferson? General Robert E. Lee? Jefferson Davis?
All of these men contributed to American history, some things good, some things bad (perhaps very bad), but you don’t erase them even from grade school curricula.
This article is incomplete. It doesn’t quote the standards being eliminated, nor does it state what will replace the eliminated standard(s). Also, those responding might remember that conservatives that hold a super majority right now in the TN legislature, so how can it be that the leftists are responsible for this the curriculum standards change.
Dear Folks: The reason that they are proposing that they delete Nathan Bedford Forrest is not a left wing plot. If you have read my series of columns about other topics to be deleted, this is one of many things to be deleted, including the French and Indian War fort known as Fort Loudoun and Union Admiral David Farragut. This has to do with the reduction in social studies brought on by the overemphasis on ELA and math in public school curriculum. It has a lot to do with Tennessee history being reduced throughout K through 12. Also, as some of you may have heard the only “stand alone course” in Tennessee History, which is now in 5th grade, would be moved to THIRD GRADE! This has to do with all Tennessee History — from Cherokee culture to Polk to the poll tax to TVA to the Civil Rights Movement — being scaled back.