white History: Devil's Punchbowl, Natchez, Mississippi

 Video About Devil's Punchbowl

We are taught that the Union Army during the Civil War were the "good guys," because they're the side that won, and the side that brought about the end of slavery. But it wasn't always the case, sadly. The Devil's Punchbowl concentration camp is something that has been hidden to most white people, because history is written by the winners and in this country, the winners are white people.

The western way of thought has placed an emphasis on written history over oral tradition. This works in our favor when we don't want to pass on our evils, because all we have to do is not write them down, and eventually, nobody will remember it. The Devil's Punchbowl, in 1865, was where the Union Army built a concentration camp to house freed slaves, and then proceeded to starve over 20,000 people to death or leave them to die of disease. This is one such incident where we decided to let history, and us, forget. But it was kept alive by oral tradition within Black communities in this country. Since it was largely not documented, white people can choose to ignore its validity. You have to decide for yourself if you believe this to be true, or not. 

There aren't many photos of this death camp. There weren't news reporters at the scene documenting it. All there is, for the most part, is the stories that were passed down from survivors or people who saw it happen and told the next generation, who told the next generation. How history is recorded is important to maintaining or dismantling white supremacy. It's time we learn about these horrifying incidents, believe they happened, and own up to them now. How many other things have happened in the course of our nation's history that we simply never heard of because our ancestors chose to cover them up? We many never really know...

There are a lot more videos on youtube that you can watch, besides the one I included here, and here are also some other sources to learn more about one of our most terrible, unknown to us, moments in history:

As you can see, Wikipedia doesn't have a lot to say about this incident.

 African American Registry website article.

There has been research done, and this incident has been confirmed as legitimate. 

This is the Twitter thread that I first learned about Devil's Punchbowl.