WEEK VI

A Rumor of Growth

Occasionally the image of my 9-year-old self dressed in the gaudy fashion of leggings layered with shorts, leg warmers, and neon Converse, burns itself into my mind at 3am, the overall cringey-ness keeping me from falling asleep. For my readers’ sanity, I will abstain from including a visual of this iconic look, but this week’s chapter, “Dying for Dixie” in Tony Horwitz’s Confederates in the Attic, convinced me to reflect on uncomfortable parts of history such as this. 

How is it that outfits on which I prided myself in 2010 can be the cause of such embarrassment for me a decade later? The simple answer is that I have learned from my mistakes and grown. It is only from the vantage point of a closet full of neutral colors that I can be upset by my youthful fashion choices. 

It is the same when reflecting on history as a whole with the advantage of hindsight. Certain events will always hold embarrassment and discomfort, which many choose to avoid.

One example of uncomfortable history is modern conflicts of racism as leftovers from the Civil War. Horwitz’s chapter tells this story in the form of the murder of a Confederate flag wielding redneck by a group of black teens. 

Another example of uncomfortable history is the Vietnam War, an outline of which is provided in Philip Caputo’s memoir A Rumor of War. Caputo’s account is the story of his company’s descent into feral madness in the jungles of Nam and the subsequent atrocities committed at their hands. Caputo says himself, “I wanted A Rumor of War to make people uncomfortable.”

These stories blur the lines between hero and villain, complicating the reader’s view of events. 

Are the heroes of Horwitz’s story teenagers who stand up for one another by murdering a bully? Is the villain a new father who hardly knows the meaning of the Confederate flag he flies?

Are the heroes of Caputo’s story US Marines who unflinchingly burn and raid villages? Is the villian an elderly Vietnamese woman beaten for not understanding English?

Much of the discomfort surrounding these stories stems from the reader’s realization they empathize with both parties. The conflicts are just as real and complicated now as they were when they occurred, and the reader must make their own imperfect judgements with the aid of hindsight. Just like me looking back and wondering why I dressed like a Jazzercize instructor in elementary school, looking back at history and becoming uncomfortable, anxious, and confused, signifies growth. 

So, should history make people uncomfortable? For museums and other venues which present history to the public, the foremost goal must be engagement, hence it may be less appropriate to present history in all its controversial gory glory. Last week’s blog post discussed this topic at length. However, historians should never shy away from offering all sides of history in honest, uncensored detail critical to the study of history. These stories can be tactfully presented in formats like books which audiences are free to work through at their own pace.  

Discomfort, anxiety, and embarrassment are natural and proper reactions to history since history taught the world how to be a better place.

[Confederates in the Attic, Tony Horwitz 1998. A Rumor of War, Philip Caputo 1977.]