Vikki

This most recent episode in this controversy is disturbing, and simply outrageous. Stauffer seems to be implying that you are a neo Confederate and apologist! Has he read your book? Just the opposite is true. Also, there is the not so subtle implication that you may be a racist. Another outrageous falsehood. I am astounded by this latest development. In a post on a fellow blogger’s site, Stauffer described himself as an “evangelist”. His behavior has proven why an historian’s role should not include the self proclaimed role of moral arbiter. In presenting himself as the messenger of truth, Stauffer is blind to his own shortcomings. In addition, he is undercutting the presentation of the truly complex history of Jones County, and of what that history means for both the white and African American communities. If I read the news article that you linked to, only; I would think that you are a Lost Cause adherent, which is laughable to anyone who knows your work. Stauffer, of course, did not write the news article. The reporter was reporting the story as it unfolded. Stauffer could have corrected the reporter, however, had he chosen to do so. I am much more interested in reading the history of Jones County as portrayed by you, Ed Payne, and Yvonne Bivins. The other history of Jones County, Newt Knight, and Rachel Knight is indeed fiction. I do hope that Yvonne Bivins writes a book. I would be interested to know, too, if Rachel did, in fact, have Indigenous ancestors as well, since her reputation as a “conjure woman” , seems to indicate that she may have. Also, Rachel’s preservation of African ceremony may have contributed to that reputation as well. Best, Sherree.

Stauffer dismisses you as a poor historian and the late Rudy Leverett as a “neo-Confederate” yet the end notes of “State of Jones” contain 57 cites of your book and 7 cites of your research files at USM. Rudy Leverett’s book is cited 51 times. Okay, so it appears some of these cites were simply to provide cover for Jenkins and Stauffer to toss off another unsupported statement. But still one has to ask why Stauffer felt the need to rely so heavily on the work of authors for whom he now expresses such contempt.

But there is no real reason to wonder. Any person who feels his mission lifts him far above mundane concerns about factual accuracy has an intrinsic understanding of Lenin’s observation that a lie repeated often enough becomes the truth. Well, at least it does in the mind of the teller.

Vikki

And they are Yankees, but it is an insult to Carpetbaggers to call them Carpetbaggers.

Vikki