Often when we look back upon history, we sense that the 'past' is past and that it is no longer relevant to the present. For years as a public-school teacher of American History, I struggled to get my students interested in the subject. As comedian Red Foxx used to say, "How is knowing when George Washington crossed the Delaware going to help me in a brick fight?" Today, this seems to be no longer a problem. Youth are marching, protesting, burning, and demanding change based upon "past" injustices. To rectify these abominations, they are ready to inflict new injustices upon innocent Americans in the hope that the present generation can atone for the crimes of the past. As a result, the issues that brought about the greatest tragedy in our nation's past seem to be eerily still with us today. The following educational poster has identified five major issues that contributed to Civil War in the 1860s that seem to be increasing in tempo today. They not only parallel the issues of the past, they threaten to reignite a new, perhaps even greater conflict in our nation in the early 21st century. These posters are used in 'living-history' encampments along with many others directly related to events that took place during the Civil War. Not surprisingly, these two posters often generate the most conversation and help to prove that the issues for which our ancestors fought have still not been settled.
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