Should We Make History Polite and Palatable?

Whitewashing history is a very dangerous game to play...

by Heather Blanton

Is it right to tell a story from the past but filter it through the sanitized, politically-correct lens of the twenty-first century? What do we lose if we follow that process? If we bury the sins and mistakes of the past, aren't we in danger of repeating them?

 Recently, I was doing some research and a friend gave me a couple of books on South Dakota history. They are all in the series Daughters of Dakota, edited by Sally Roesch Wagner. Each volume is a fascinating look at the life of lady pioneers--the gals who crossed the plains, stared Lakota Sioux right in the eye, lost husbands and children, survived fires and floods. You get the picture. The true Ladies in Defiance. But best of all, these books tell the stories in the women's own words. Each volume is a compilation of letters, diaries, and transcribed stories. First-hand accounts of pioneer life that give an amazing glimpse of life in South Dakota from the 1870s to the early 1900's.

There are several books in the collection. In Book 1, the editor goes to great pains to express that each story contains the actual words of the pioneer woman. Following the suggestion that "the English or grammar used is to be the writer's own for history is wanted [unvarnished] and not perfect manuscripts," editing was kept to a minimum. In fact, Wagner says, "The words have not been changed." 

South Dakota and her pioneers are all there in their ugliness—violence, racism, bigotry—and their beauty—generosity, kindness, self-sacrifice.

However, by book 6, Wagner has had a complete change of heart. She has decided she knows life in the nineteenth century better than the ones who actually lived then. "Today," she writes, "we know the disrespect and contempt contained in the word, 'squaw'; had these pioneer women known what we know, they would undoubtedly not have used the word."

Well, the poor, little, ignorant pioneers. If only they'd had someone like a college professor to enlighten them on diversity and social justice.  

To paint over this 19th-century mindset and not offend our modern one, Wagner continues, "In respect to them and their Native American friends, I have changed that word whenever it has appeared in the manuscript, along with the words, 'papoose' and 'buck.'"  

I don't know about you, but the woman's audacity almost leaves me speechless. But, wait. There's more. "'Colored' and 'Negro' are no longer considered correct usage; African American has replaced them in the women's stories." 

Don't get me wrong. I am certainly not defending the use of racial slurs. However, a hundred, a hundred-and-fifty years ago these words were common descriptors, sometimes used with malice, sometimes not. In my humble opinion, whitewashing history is a very dangerous game to play. If you don't present the past in its completeness, you get a skewed image that buries sins and hides mistakes. And that's not history at all. That's fiction.  

Do you agree with me or should we be making all history politically correct, polite, and palatable?   

Writing a Historical Mystery-Romance

Well, so far I am really happy with the reviews that Locket Full of Love is getting. This was my first all-out attempt to write a mystery-romance and readers seem to like it. This story was hard to write because of the intricacy of the plot! Plus, I had to do a lot of research into military intelligence during the Civil War.

Two things I learned in this process--One, a mystery has to be carefully, carefully plotted out. You have to think backward and forward to make sure the clues all fit together and the hero/heroine find them in legitimate ways. That was challenging. I mean I really spent a fair amount of time noodling over if this this/then this! Couldn't just have tips and clues falling out of the sky. There had to be a rational, logical progression.

The second thing I learned was how almost slipshod intelligence was during the Civil War. Generals tended to handle it on their own, employing their own men to gather information and make up strategies as they went along. General Grant was fond of using Allen Pinkerton--who at that time was also deeply involved in guarding Abraham Lincoln. I suppose you could argue he did a less-than-stellar job on that case.

Anyway, if you get a few moments and want to curl up a with a good mystery that is built around not only a fine romance but the actual historical character Juliet Watts, I hope you'll give Locket Full of Love a gander!

Was her husband a sinner or a saint? A spy or a traitor? For years Juliet Watts has believed her husband died saving nothing more than a cheap trinket--but the locket he foolishly risked his life for turns out to hold a mysterious key. Together, Juliet and military intelligence officer Robert Hall go on a journey of riddles and revelations. But Juliet is convinced Robert is hiding something, too. Maybe it's just his heart...

New Release ~~ TODAY ~~Locket Full of Love, book 5 in the Lockets & Lace Collection

Was her husband a sinner or a saint? A spy or a traitor?

For years Juliet Watts has believed her husband died saving nothing more than a cheap trinket--but the locket he risked his life for turns out to hold a mysterious key. Together, Juliet and military intelligence officer Robert Hall go on a journey of riddles and revelations. But Juliet is convinced Robert is hiding something, too. Maybe it’s just his heart…

I have to tell y'all, I had such a good time writing Locket Full of Love! It's a romance, but the Lord led me to some wonderful twists and turns, making it the best mystery (I think) I have written so far. It's a roller coast ride that moves from St. Joe to Nashville to Denver. You'll stroll the streets of Defiance, ride horses in the San Juan Mountains, and haunt the halls of Washington politicians. I hope you'll order you copy today!

Here's a little snippet!

“How stupid do you think I am?”

The small-boned fist roared out of the dawn’s gloom and hit Robert’s jaw with the force of a shovel swung by a much larger man. Vision blurring, his brain fogging, he staggered back away from Juliet, holding his face. His hat tumbled to the ground behind him.

She stepped toward him, one hand clutching her suitcase, the other flexing over and over as if the punch had hurt her as well. Her pinched lips and burning eyes said she was ready to throw another, regardless of the passengers on the platform eying her with mouths agape.

“You try to rob me and then show up here to ride the train with me?”

Robert couldn’t fathom what was causing this outburst. “I don’t think you’re stupid at all,” he said, working his jaw back and forth. “And maybe if you tell me what’s got you so riled, I can explain. Who tried to rob you?”

“Like you don’t know.”

“I don’t know.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, slivers of cold fire shooting from them. “Someone was in my room last night rifling through my jewelry. Jewelry. Clearly, he was after the locket. I haven’t told anyone about it.” She raised her eyebrows in accusation at him. 

“I didn’t tell anyone.” But he had. He’d sent a telegram. Making sure the revelation didn’t show on his face, he said, “Perhaps Mr. Mueller told someone. Innocently enough. He told the wrong person or the wrong person overheard?”

Her gaze narrowed down to slits of jade. Robert raised his hands in surrender. “If I had tried to rob you, Juliet, would I be here now?”

The First Female Lawyer in America--Bent the Rules to Take the Bar

By Heather Frey Blanton
Copyright 2013 Heather Blanton

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Arabella Mansfield. You’ve probably never heard of her unless you’re from Iowa, but Arabella was the first woman in America to become a lawyer. She passed the Iowa bar in 1869, illegally. Still, Arabella’s milestone proves that behind many a good woman there often stands a supportive man.

A lawyer...AND she could get herself into this outfit.
I am impressed by Arabella's tenacity. 

Arabella was actually born Belle Aurelia Babb in in 1846 in Burlington, IA. Only three years later her father left to hunt gold in the west, leaving Mrs. Babb to raise Arabella and her brother Washington on her own. Her father was kind enough, however, to send home some money, enabling both children to attend college. Perhaps since her mother was such a stalwart example of what a woman could do, Arabella never saw a barrier she couldn’t conquer. John Mansfield, her high school sweetheart, was smart enough to realize that and, instead of trying to hold her back, encouraged her to reach for the stars.

After graduating from Iowa Wesleyan College, Arabella taught at Simpson College but returned home only a year later. She married John and studied law in her brother’s office. Two years later, despite the fact that only white men over the age of 21 were allowed to take the bar, Arabella took the exam and passed it with a high score.

This didn’t sit well with some attorneys in the state and so they did what attorneys do: they challenged Arabella’s status. Fairly quickly, the court ruled women and minorities should not be denied the right to practice law in the state, the first ruling of its kind in the USA. Arabella never used the license she fought so hard to acquire—as she preferred teaching—but she involved herself in the fight for women’s rights till she died in 1911. Not a rabid feminist, she did support the suffragette movement. Arabella resented having her intelligence insulted. Clearly, if women were smart enough to become lawyers, she thought it only reasonable they should have the right to vote.

Thank you, Arabella.

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Bloomers--Her Contribution to American Fashion

Suffrage and Temperance? No, no, no. Let’s talk Bloomers!

This was supposed to be better than a dress?

In American history, you have women who spied for this country, loaded cannons during heated battles, fought wild Indians, ventured alone to rowdy frontier towns.

And then there is Amelia Bloomer.

A native of New York, Amelia was the first woman to own, edit, and operate a newspaper in the United States. The Lily was started in 1849 for the reading pleasure of the Seneca Falls Ladies Temperance Society. By 1850, the circulation of 4000 had started to decline and Amelia took over the editorial helm. She had found her groove. She loved espousing her views on suffrage, temperance, morality, and fashion.

Married to an attorney who was apparently patient and supportive, Amelia freely championed the cause of suffrage all over the country. She spoke, attended rallies, organized committees, and hung with the likes of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady. If not for her, her newspaper and her enthusiasm, who knows how long it would have been before we women would have attained the right to vote?

But is that why you know the name Bloomer?

Probably not.

In 1851, a few notable women started wearing loose, baggy pants that gathered at the ankles. The style was based on pants women wore in the Middle East. Amelia fell in love with the roomy, flowing pants. She adored that they allowed her to move so freely, climb steps without tripping, and kept her hands free. Never mind that the things are about as attractive as a clown suit.

But Amelia adored the goofy breeches and pushed them every chance she got. They were frequently mentioned in The Lily, to the point the I-Dream-of-Jeannie breeches finally earned the nickname Bloomers.

Ah, the lasting contribution of a Lady in Defiance.

Copyright 2017 Heather Blanton

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Lockets--a Must-Have Fashion Item of the Victorians

by Heather Blanton

Recently I became interested in lockets as a potential symbol in a story. Curious about their history, I did a little research. They really are an interesting and emotional reflection of the heart’s capacity for syrupy love.

Scholars pretty much agree that lockets were originally born out of the medieval transition from amulets to a more rational and less “magical” mindset. Still, items of great value, sentimentality, and power were kept in the lockets. Everything from notes, to hair, to poison.

Queen Elizabeth wore a locket with a painting of her mother in it—the famous Ann Boleyn, beheaded by Henry the VIII. I can imagine the picture and her mother’s untimely demise kept the Virgin Queen on her toes and careful with men!

Lockets, however, truly entered the mainstream of fashion with the Victorian age. Prince Albert gave Queen Victoria a bracelet with eight pendants on it, each containing a lock of hair from all their children. The queen was rarely ever without the sweet gift.

When Albert died, she was devastated. She had a locket made with the Prince’s photo inside. Hearts melted by the sentimentality of her gesture, fashion aficionados of the day turned the mourning locket—and then lockets in general—into the fashion trend of the day. Black bog oak (an old wood) was the material of choice. Just as there was a cultural expectation that a widow would wear black for a year, she was also expected not to wear any jewelry other than the mourning locket for the same amount of time.

I was more impressed with the spinner lockets, though—a particular style that became popular during the Victorian era. According to the ebay buyer’s guide, “These lockets have a bail, which is a D-shaped or oval component used to connect the locket to the necklace chain. The bail is not fixed to the locket itself, leaving it free to spin.” I don’t know why that impresses me. Possibly because I’ve never seen one and they tend to be more valuable than a normal locket.

If you find a spinner locket, snap it up!

Prosthetics Have Come a Long Way Since the Civil War...Thank God.

by Heather Blanton

In my new book, To Love and to Honor, available exclusively through the It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas collection, I wrote about a hero who is an amputee. And I will tell you, the research on 19th-century prosthetics was hard to look at. On the bright side, we've come a long way, baby.

Though doctors have tried for centuries to design prosthetics for amputees that were natural and mobile, the industry truly took flight because of the Civil War. During the conflict between the states, an estimated 70,000 men lost appendages.

Most people aren’t aware that the Minnie ball was invented in the 1840’s and elevated to deadly perfection a few years before the Civil War. The bullet, made of soft lead, expanded upon impact, creating wildly jagged, deep, slow-healing wounds never before seen by physicians. Hence, amputation became the treatment of choice because bleeding-out and infection were the other options. The war created arguably an army of amputees.

This looks more like a device of torture than a prosthetic, but I modeled the one my hero wears on this one.

Again, it looks more like torture than true function.

“Recognizing the alarming number of amputations resulting from combat, the U.S. government unveiled the "Great Civil War Benefaction," a commitment to provide prosthetics to all disabled veterans.” (THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS)

Of course, with the in-flow of money, entrepreneurs jumped on the prosthetic band wagon and started designing limbs en masse. Desperate for some semblance of normalcy, every veteran longed for a device that was comfortable and functional. Sadly, though, most prosthetics fell far short of their shimmering promises. The new designs were often no better than strapped-on peg legs. 

But from tragedy, God can certainly bring about good as well. Confederate soldier James Hanger lost a leg to a cannon ball and suffered from bad prosthetic after bad prosthetic. Disgusted, he went to work designing a leg that would work for him. He not only created an artificial limb that he found to be comfortable, rather natural looking, and quite functional, he built a successful prosthetics company. Hanger, Inc. is still in business today and employs nearly 5,000 employees!

Mr. Hanger himself.

Once a limb is gone, that’s it. Science still doesn’t have the capability to regrow fingers and toes, much less arms and legs. We do stand, however, on the edge of amazing progress. From ergonomically designed prosthetics capable of supporting athletic feats to bionic technology, science is moving forward. Perhaps it won’t be long until we can make someone better than he was. Better, stronger, faster, either with prosthetics or eventually with the real thing.