Essay --

A common meta-narrative surrounding the American Civil War deals with each side's motivation for fighting: the North fought to preserve the Union, while the Confederacy fought to preserve â€Å"states† rights, which tends to deemphasize the role that role racial slavery played in the nation’s history. In addition, when slavery is discussed, it is removed from political discussion and the North is often glorified for fighting for black American interests, eventually minimizing the racial tension that fraught the United States, in both the North and South. This paper will thoroughly describe the non-racial knowledge that has been subjugated around the Civil War, connect this knowledge to the grand narrative of this nation's history, and discuss how it problematizes general knowledge by deemphasizing its significance in America's history, ultimately outlining that ignorance of race relations in this country has only led to more racial tension. First, analyzing the story behind the Northern and Southern motivation for the war shines light on how and why the knowledge subjugated around the Civil War commonly minimizes issues like slavery and racism. Deemphasizing slavery by focusing history on the idea that the North fought to keep states united and that the South seceded in the name of states’ rights does two important things. First, it diminishes the role racism played in American history and it also allows racism to be hidden behind states’ rights rather than discussed in honest terms. The North did fight for unity among states, but such unity called for an economy that did not rely on slave labor (Zinn 177). The South did secede claiming states’ rights, but those â€Å"rights† were to own property as they wished, that is to say human beings ... ...ended but race discrimination is an issue that is still going on in this country. Racism has been significantly reduced but unfortunately many individuals still have to face this problem. African Americans are not the only individuals that are affected by racism today. Individuals of many other races are also affected by this issue The struggle over racial slavery may be the predominant theme in American history (Loewen 137) and should not be ignored or downplayed in any degree. Although the causes of racism are a complicated historical issue, it is important to understand the dynamic interplay between slavery as a socioeconomic system and racism as the overlying ideological system (Loewen 143). The ideological system of racism has long outlived the socioeconomic system of slavery (Loewen 144) and learning from history in this way helps to prevent repetition of it.