Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Thinking about the Old South (Arna Bontemps)

Thinking about the Old South (Arna Bontemps)

Last updated on: November 2, 2018 at 7:48 am by John Mark N. Reynolds

Thinking about the Old South (Arna Bontemps) 2018-11-02T07:48:54-04:00 John Mark N. Reynolds

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Antebellum.

Americans need the truth and for many the truth begins with killing a lie: the antebellum South is a lost paradise. Instead, like Plato’s Atlantis, the antebellum South is a tyranny “sunk . . . until every drop of blood drawn with the lash (was) paid by another drawn with the sword.”

Multiples of Lincoln’s four score and seven years have passed since that South existed and still we ponder the antebellum South. Grant racked Lee, but the rebel won the peace. US Grant busted the Klan, but Woodrow Wilson watched Birth of a Nation, a film that praised the KKK, in the White House after Grant was dead.

Twisted minds like that of Thomas Dixon created a lie, an ignoble lie, of a lost cause that was noble and a Senator like Bilbo was writing books defending racism and opposition to interracial marriage after World War II. In my lifetime African-Americans had to fight for the right to vote and be treated with dignity.

A Gone with the Wind view of the antebellum South still resonates with far too many people. That novel told one truth: a few people built an enviable life before the War. The defeat of the South destroyed an ability to live as that privileged group had lived. At the end of this paean to privilege for some whites, the heroine shows resolve that this world will not be allowed to utterly die:

She felt vaguely comforted, strengthened by the picture, and some of her hurt and frantic regret was pushed from the top of her mind. She stood for a moment remembering small things, the avenue of dark cedars leading to Tara, the banks of cape jessamine bushes, vivid green against the white walls, the fluttering white curtains. And Mammy would be there. Suddenly she wanted Mammy desperately, as she had wanted her when she was a little girl, wanted the broad bosom on which to lay her head, the gnarled black hand on her hair. Mammy, the last link with the old days. With the spirit of her people who would not know defeat, even when it stared them in the face, she raised her chin. She could get Rhett back. She knew she could. There had never been a man she couldn’t get, once she set her mind upon him. “I’ll think of it all tomorrow, at Tara. I can stand it then. Tomorrow, I’ll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.”

God help us, some Americans still view the antebellum world as a loss. Whatever some lost, and nothing is so bad that there is not graciousness in some corner, the gains were greater. This effete, enervating slave based lifestyle allowed some gracious living, but what does it profit a man to make the perfect mint julep at the cost of his soul?

There are still those who dream that tomorrow, somehow, plantation culture will return and “things” will return to their “natural order. This is a damnable lie, a local heresy that denies the genius of our African fathers and mothers in the Church.

When the old South fell, for every accidental good that was lost, great intentional goods were gained. We started doing well by doing good instead of presuming on God’s grace.

His Truth

If you want the truth, ask the poets of the liberated. Ask the Americans who never held a whip. Ask a God-breathed poet such as Arna Botemps: a man who did everything, novels, poetry, children’s books, academic work. He had a poet’s soul, saw the superficial beauty built on blood, and with the advantage of a Christian education, knew the divine retribution that wiped out the antebellum South.

God judged surely and with a true judgment. Hear the voice of a prophet:

Southern Mansion

Poplars are standing there still as death

And ghosts of dead Men

Meet their ladies walking

Two by two beneath the shade

And standing on the marble steps.

There is a sound of music echoing

Through the open door

And in the field there is

Another sound tinkling in the cotton

Chains of bondsmen dragging on the ground .

The years go back with an iron clank,

A hand is on the gate,

A dry leaf trembles on the wall.

Ghosts are walking.

They have broken roses down,

And poplars stand there still as death.

We need truth, God’s truth. Slavery was a peculiarity, an institution known to be immoral by the global Christian majority. Race based slavery denied a Christian heartland in Aksum. The lie of the lovely antebellum South, a warped and ugly place, denies the truth of the chains, whips, and oppression of slavery.

Antebellum: John Reynolds of Virginia was plowing his field.

Bellum: John Reynolds of Lincoln’s new state of West Virginia left his plow in the field and signed up to fight for Lincoln and liberty too.

Postbellum: John Reynolds lived in a state where Booker T. Washington could thrive as his equal.

This is the truth we need. What truth? This glorious truth:

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me:
As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.

Culture

On Books

Politics

Previous Post

November 1, 2018

The Coming Party with the Once Dead: the Party of All Saints

Next Post

November 3, 2018 Trust in the God Who Knows

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Apologetics Art Culture Education On Books On Education Philosophy Politics Pop Culture Spiritual Reflections Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 July 2025 June 2025 September 2024 July 2024 June 2024 December 2023 June 2023 September 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How did Jeremiah's scribe escape death after Jehoiakim sought to arrest them?

Select your answer to see how you score.

They hid A prophet intervened They fled to Babylon They paid a bribe

Books by This Author John Mark Reynolds

See All Titles »