tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post7370140849448920977..comments2024-03-25T17:49:41.408-07:00Comments on Salem Breakfast on Bikes: Architecture Notes: Grant Neighborhood Houses and AIA Salem AwardsSalem Breakfast on Bikeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15618055627843335993noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-14087497343521598362017-10-02T18:31:36.652-07:002017-10-02T18:31:36.652-07:00(Oh yeah, while on the topic of books, Richard Rot...(Oh yeah, while on the topic of books, Richard Rothstein's <a href="http://books.wwnorton.com/books/The-Color-of-Law/" rel="nofollow"><i>The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America</i></a> is relevant re: Sundown Towns.)Salem Breakfast on Bikeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15618055627843335993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-71578798941914190992017-10-02T18:19:48.029-07:002017-10-02T18:19:48.029-07:00From a review of Ron Chernow's new biography o...From <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2017/10/grant_by_ron_chernow_reviewed_by_david_plotz.html" rel="nofollow">a review of Ron Chernow's new biography of Grant</a>:<br /><br />"<i>But for reasons that are grimly relevant to this dark moment in American political life, Grant toppled from his pedestal. From his Gilded Age peak, Grant plunged and plunged, past mere mediocrity to ignominy. He became the drunken butcher, an uncouth rube who won the war only because he extravagantly sacrificed his soldiers, a doltish political patsy who presided over the most corrupt presidency in American history. Grant was slandered in service to the Lost Cause, the false narrative that Southerners adopted a century ago to explain away defeat and blot out the shame of slavery. One key element of the Lost Cause was to tar Grant in order to elevate the “honorable” Southern generals he crushed in battle....<br /><br />Chernow’s book is a relentless artillery barrage of primary sources aimed at proving his several theses: Grant was the titanic genius of the Civil War, the greatest champion of Reconstruction, an underestimated president, one of the finest writers America ever produced, and a humble, charming, and decent man.</i>"<br /><br />Maybe the book will key a reassessment of Grant.Salem Breakfast on Bikeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15618055627843335993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-12472695087775740912015-05-03T19:50:39.629-07:002015-05-03T19:50:39.629-07:00It happens that a friend of the blog is reading Br...It happens that a friend of the blog is reading <i>Breaking Chains</i> at this very moment and has shared some of it. It is, as you say, important history that has been largely - and all too conveniently sometimes - forgotten.<br /><br />It is always shocking to see that it wasn't until 1926 <a href="oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/exclusion_laws/" rel="nofollow">the "exclusion clause" in the Oregon Constitution was repealed</a>.<br /><br />Though I have not seen the Loewen book, it looks like a fine book. Summaries suggest, though, it's a national history with a special focus on Illinois. What would be especially interesting is something more narrowly focused on Salem in particular. Thanks for the reference!<br /><br />Though today because of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_S._Grant_presidential_administration_scandals" rel="nofollow">several scandals</a> and all Grant is not regarded highly as President, this was not always so! When the school was renamed, it was said of him: "North school as a name had no educational, historical or ethical value, while the commemoration of tho life of one of America's greatest Presidents and generals Is In Itself a tribute to patriotism." When the proposal was first made at an Arbor Day celebration the year before, "Col, Hofer closed with an eulogy of General Grant, a man who had been showered with the wealth and honors of the whole world, but by misfortune had died poor, so poor that he had not even an officer's suit in which to be clothed for his burial, or a sword to lay upon his coffin."<br /><br />See articles from <a href="http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn99063957/1907-04-13/ed-1/seq-5/" rel="nofollow">April 13th, 1907</a>, <a href="http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn99063957/1908-03-05/ed-1/seq-4/" rel="nofollow">March 5th, 1908</a>, and <a href="http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn99063957/1908-03-07/ed-1/seq-6/" rel="nofollow">March 7th, 1908</a>.Salem Breakfast on Bikeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15618055627843335993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-86578633211521202662015-05-02T11:25:23.488-07:002015-05-02T11:25:23.488-07:00Read "Sundown Towns" by James Loewen for...Read "Sundown Towns" by James Loewen for more on redlining and its precursors ... Of course, all Oregon was redlined when you think about it, right there is the Constitution. Another good book on this is R. Gregory Nokes book "Breaking Chains" where an early black settler successfully sued for his freedom and his children. Talk about dropped down the memory hole .... This book was a revelation, explains a lot about Oregon.Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12731260619465817652noreply@blogger.com