I Know It’s Heritage And Not Hate
From: Astanax Knight
Hello. I am wanting to add some things to that southern heritage. In 2003, I had the gracious opportunity to go to Beaviour, the last home of Jefferson Davis, before Hurricane Katrina blew away most of the estate in 2005. I had a talk with the tour guide there. It was a cold winter when I went, and so it was just her and I there. I had walked from Keesler AFB where I was stationed, and had noticed the confederate flag flying high on a pole right next to the road.
She just let me look around the house, and I looked at all the old pictures. Behind one door, I noticed a black child surrounded by white children. I showed it to the tour guide, and asked her what this was. She told me that from documents (Probably Jefferson Davis or his wife’s diary) that Jefferson had rescued that black child from his abusive slave parents, and adopted him as his own.
She also told me that a black man had come in, at ease because none of his friends had known he had gone there. He asked her to look at the Jefferson Davis library that was on the premises, for he wanted to look up the geneology of a family secret, that his ancestor was a black slave who fought for the south. They always show Glory, but they never want to make a movie showing black soldiers of the Confederacy.
I also went to the Stephen Foster Memorial, and was so downhearted when I read that all of the Civil War books that were stated as fact were made in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, or Chicago. They were mainly citing the south as a place of evil, never once saying the south had any good things with it.
I know it’s heritage, and not hate. In fact, when I first heard about Dixie Outfitters, I thought it was just one big redneck store that was racist. When I walked in, however, and read your flyer about the true southern heritage, I found that you are patriots that debunk the lies about the great south. Now when I have some one doubting what I say (Like the guy who told me that the black boy Jefferson had must have been because of him having sex with a black woman, and was so belligerant to not see the truth), then I can show them the information on your webpage. You have opened my eyes to see that you are not just some racist redneck store, but a prover of truth.
