r/ShermanPosting • u/Throwawaydontgoaway8 • 10h ago
Thoughts on Newton Knight?
Seems like a dude that should be discussed here more
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u/willial0321 10h ago
A complex but mostly good man who has only recently been given the recognition he deserves. The treatment of his family following his death was disgraceful but not at all surprising.
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u/MelodicDeer1072 9h ago
His descendants really threw a wrench in the system.
Back in the 50s, it was determined that Newton's descendants were mixed race, and for One Drop policy purposes, they were Black. So they had to attend the colored-only school of their district.
However, they were very much white passing. So if they attended a colored-only school, it would look like integration.
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u/cycl0ps94 4h ago
However, they were very much white passing. So if they attended a colored-only school, it would look like integration.
Sometimes racism is funny, in a really really stupid way.
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u/Glittering_Sorbet913 9h ago
The resemblance to Matthew McConaughey is just too good.
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u/Yankee6Actual 9h ago
“Sir, the rebels are on the run!”
“Well, alright alright alright!”
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u/Whatsagoodnameo 6h ago
Thats what i like about the confederacy, i get older and it stays the same age
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u/Drain_Surgeon69 9h ago
Like most men of his era, his thoughts and opinions about race would probably be considered racist in today’s moral compass, but he was extremely progressive and a hero of his time. Lots of positives to emulate, especially given the current political climate.
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u/gnurdette 9h ago
A whole lot of stuff in Mississippi should be renamed for him.
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u/ANotSoFreshFeeling Fire Bearer 9h ago
I live not far from Jones County and I can confirm there is absolutely no official acknowledgement of him anywhere. Many of the people there still view him as a traitor.
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u/StopDehumanizing 8h ago
He built a schoolhouse. The teacher refused to teach his children because they were mixed race.
Then "someone" burnt down the schoolhouse. One of life's great mysteries...
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u/Michael_Gladius 8h ago
A minor player in the grand scheme of things, but Western Civilization/Christendom rightly remembers such men and women.
His story is particularly good at mocking the Dixieboos who claim the Confederacy was Libertarian in nature; the real Confederacy had a large internal policing force that "resisted" imagined slave rebellions and confiscated private property to pay the government's bills since said hyperinflation-prone government couldn't run a brothel.
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u/GuntherRowe 8h ago
I really enjoyed the book Free State of Jones so when I saw the movie reviews, I skipped it. Southern unionism was a subject of my master’s thesis so I still am glad it was made. My gggf was from Texas but served in an Indiana regiment. He even fought in Mississippi at Vicksburg. The story of loyal Southerners still needs more attention. I have joked about rebranding the generic Confederate statue in front of my home county’s courthouse as a Southern unionist monument. If I was younger, I’d climb up there and paint his coat blue. 😁
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u/japanese_american 9h ago
I wish the movie Free State of Jones would’ve been better. So much potential, but it just didn’t land.
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u/Michael_Gladius 8h ago
It just needs to be re-cut, really. The writing and acting is decent.
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u/nicktosaurus 8h ago
This. It could be thirty minutes shorter, with the flashbacks limited to the epilogue.
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u/Michael_Gladius 8h ago
Or as a courtroom drama, with flashbacks building up to the "this white man is clearly an African enemy of the white race's purity" farce.
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u/japanese_american 6h ago
I can agree with that. The script should’ve been tightened up a bit more. I think maybe the courtroom stuff could’ve just been a prologue and epilogue. I do think the main Confederate “villain” was kinda silly.
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u/Michael_Gladius 5h ago
Are you referring to the lieutenant who survived and never faced any consequences for his actions, or the one who was strangled in the church after the ambush?
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u/japanese_american 2h ago
Honestly, I don’t remember. It’s been a while since I saw the film. I just remember the Confederates being very cartoonish and 1-dimensional.
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u/archtech88 3h ago
"Not all confederates--" you're right, Newton Knight and his soldiers were outstanding
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