re: #21 Kragar

The South decided they would rather see dead Americans than free blacks

All the talk about “Southern culture” ignores one major item: Southern “culture” was built largely upon the idea that the white man was superior to the black. It was how his entire world worked, what put food on the table, what kept a roof over his family’s heads, and what put money in his pocket. The idea that the races were equal, that a white man was no different from the black man who he forced to work in his fields, challenged that entire world to its very core. And that was not something the South was ever going to accept, no matter what “deal” was made.