"Wow! Take alook at this!" Topic

This blew me away! Too cool!

link

If the letter cited is indeed authentic it is also overflowing with sarcasm and clever humor. Thanks….made my day. Abe Lincoln 1 – Jefferson Davis 0

Amazing letter.

So did he go back or what?

@jay138: Doesn't sound like it, especially with the 11K he's asking for back pay! LOL! I really appreciate his frankness with his former master. Loved it.

WOW! Thank you for sharing this.

Despite the injustices he still referred to the place as "dear old home" – different way of thinking in those days. Even so he seems like a very smart & clever man.

So did he go back or what?

11K in 1865?? I bet he would stayed right where he was and lived a very good life – that kind of money in 1865 would have made a world of difference.

Sounds like he became a truer "Gentleman" than his former master ever was .

thabear, you are so right!!

Writes better than I do now. I would have loved to seen the old Colonels face when he read that. Jourdan could make a living on stage like a black Will Rodgers.

A very useful antidote to all the romantic tosh that is talked about when people discuss the ante bellum South. Thanks for sharing.

I tip my hat to Mr. J. Anderson. I hope he and his family prospered.

Writes better than I do now. I would have loved to seen the old Colonels face when he read that. Jourdan could make a living on stage like a black Will Rodgers.

This is exactly why I am a little bit suspicious about the authenticity of this letter. I donīt mean to rain on anyoneīs parade, but this whole letter seems just a little bit too polished, with its underlying tones of irony, and subtle humor, to be believed. I understand that the former slave was supposedly dictating this letter, but it still smacks of a hoax to me.
I would very much like to believe this letter is authentic, but I think it was a post-war poke at the South.

Am I the only Doubting Thomas around here?

I agree with Texas Jack – it seems like it would not be out of place in a collection of "lost" ramblings by Mark Twain. But I would like to believe that it really was true.

Got to agree with Texas and Tom. I'd like to believe it is factual. However, being unrepentedly jaded and oft times abruptly cynical, I remain skeptical as to the authenticity of this very well written missive.

I did enjoy reading it. Thanks for the link.

Great link. Very cool! Thanks for posting. Definitely passing this forward.

From what I have found, the letter comes from a book that is a collection of writings from people of that time to give a prospective of the thoughts and feelings of a very turbulent time on our nation's history. It is from a book "Leon F. Litwack, Been in the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery, pages 333-335. Apparently there was a Federal project called the "New Deal Agency" who conducted thousands of interviews with ex-slave and other people of the time.

I for one would believe that a man can be just that "polished" and "sarcastic" and calmly express his feelings after spending most of his life in the cruelties and injustice what was slavery in the U.S, it seems he had time to reflect as he had begun a new life as a man, father and husband (sounds like he took his responsibilities very seriously). I can only imagine what must have ran through his mind (and countless others) in quiet moments alone in their thoughts…

I believe it is real, I believe a man in that situation like that can get calmly bitter (a passive resistance) after many years as the only thing you would have that no one could get to would be your thoughts.

There is of course a chance (with many things from history for that matter) that it is not real and to that I say – then it should have been.

Thanks again for sharing the letter, I will also be sharing this.

Warlord

I certainly agree with you that 35 years of slavery could make a man bitter, but I donīt think it could make him articulate.

I guess it comes down to what you want to believe, and perhaps I am just too tainted with skepticism to believe such a perfectly poignant letter.

but I donīt think it could make him articulate.

I believe he absolutely could have been, depending who he was interacting with, his ability to learn and discern, and his character as a man and so on. You would not have to be book smart to be articulate; many Americans in those days never went to school, never could read but were very smart and very articulate.

It is sad that we mention a man is a slave or poor or other back grounds and many automatically judge and believe his intelligence is limited, he may have been a slave but he was a man none the less and history has proven that we men (most of us at least) adapt, learn, figure things even in the harshest of environments and learn/grow from it – we get smarter.

And I agree that it does come down what a person wants to believe, even "perfection" is defined by each person, I dont think it is perfect but I do think it is very well written.

Warlord

But I never doubted his intelligence, only his ability to have dictated such a fine letter.
More research has turned up that he was uneducated, as one might expect (but which does not in any way make him stupid), as well as being unable to read or write. I take your point, and I donīt doubt his ability to think such things, just his ability to express them so eloquently.

Well than as you said "I guess it comes down to what you want to believe". That would be the case here.

Many Americans would have been considered to be "uneducated" during this time, I really do believe some men could be that articulate and speak eloquently with out the education. Reading and writing is one thing but speaking is another. It never seems to amaze me what we can accomplish as human beings when we put their minds to it.

Sounds like we are on the same page, just different view points.

Well regardless of whether or not the letter is real, it certainly was a lot of fun to read.

I enjoyed the letter myself, what a crafty fellow :)

You mean the second party that wrote it "in collaberation" with Jourdan was crafty. Of course he was expressing the "true sentiment" of mr. Jourdan.

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Alep you should check out Sapelos People…read about Lions in trees in Africa.