Well, talk about the power of the pen. In just over a month since first publishing my post on the Holden biography and the injustices done to our Reconstruction governor by the KKK-dominated General Assembly of the 1870's, today's state Senate has voted to overturn his impeachment (see today's Opinion page in the N&O). Of course, the timing is just a coincidence, as you can see by the plethora of comments to that post (see post on Holden, 6/17/2011). Nevertheless, I am proud to see it and only hope that the state House will follow suit without some sidestepping from the reps of Alamance or Caswell Counties, the hotbed of the most prolific Klan violence during that period. If the historical marker outside the Caswell County Courthouse is any indication (referring to the brutal and well-documented murder of State Senator John S. Stephens as the "alleged Ku Klux murder"), Holden may be in for a long wait before the House approves his pardon (see http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ncccha/memoranda/kirkholdenwar.html). Feelings surrounding the history of North Carolina and the Civil War thru Reconstruction Periods still run very strong throughout this state. Like the Vietnam Era across the United States, the Civil War Era was (and remains) a complex and confusing time for North Carolinians. One can hope that as knowledge of the true history of this era comes to light and is shared with more and more Tarheels that, just as Americans have come to terms with Vietnam, North Carolinians can eventually lay the myths to rest and come to a still proud but more realistic perspective of their ancestors' roles during that period. The N&O's editor is more confident than I am that the General Assembly will complete Holden's pardon, but it would definitely be the right thing to do.
Charley NorkusHigh school history teacher for almost 20 years Archives
November 2015
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