Here in south Louisiana we are, to a degree, surrounded by levees. For those not familiar with them, levees are manmade earthen barriers that are designed to protect the inhabited areas of the region from rising waters and storm surges. They are not a new strategy, historical accounts tell us of levees being erected by the first European settlers to the area three centuries ago. European styled settlements were always challenged by the climate and ecology of the bayou land.
A demonstrator who supports keeping Confederate era monuments joins other protestors before the Jefferson Davis statue was taken down in New Orleans,, May 11, 2017. (AP/Gerald Herbert)
A statue of Confederate Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard is prepared for removal from the entrance to City Park in New Orleans, Tuesday, May 16, 2017. (AP/Scott Threlkeld)
BATON ROUGE – Still fighting the Civil War, after hours of heated debate, the Louisiana House on Monday night approved a bill to protect Confederate monuments statewide.
Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards on Tuesday called the bill “problematic,” impractical and unnecessarily divisive, but he did not say whether will veto it if it comes to his desk.
Many Southern whites cling to symbols of a racist past when whites reigned supreme and blacks were enslaved or segregated, a fight raging in New Orleans over Confederate monuments, notes Lawrence Davidson. By Lawrence Davidson Cultures do evolve, particularly those aspects…Read more →
When Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, they don’t know what they are celebrating.
In American folklore, Thanksgiving is a holiday that originated in 1621 with the Pilgrims celebrating a good harvest. Some historians say that this event is poorly documented, and others believe that the Thanksgiving tradition travelled to the New World with the Pilgrims and Puritans who brought with them the English Days of Thanksgiving. Other historians think the Pilgrims associated their relief from hunger with their observance of the relief of the siege of Leiden.
