Ana worries that the race riot of 1908 will become a "condemned memory that will be unknown in fifty years" Do you believe shameful historical incidents do get permanently forgotten, or are they only suppressed temporarily?

Ana worries that the race riot of 1908 will become a "condemned memory that will be unknown in fifty years" (p. 332). Do you think her fears are justified? Do you believe shameful historical incidents do get permanently forgotten, or are they only suppressed temporarily? Is our response to such incidents different today then it was a century ago?

Shameful historical events get brushed under the rug all the time. What's even more shameful is you could have dropped that event into the 21st century and it would not be out of place at all.

I think a whole TON of shameful acts have gotten buried over the centuries, and I give credit to the individuals who've gone out of their way to uncover these crimes. I had never heard about the Race Riot of 1908 (or about the burning of Tulsa's Greenwood District in 1921, for that matter).

I do think it's harder to hide large-scale acts like this these days. I can't imagine a similar event taking place today without it being filmed by dozens of cell phones and reported in-process on my iPad.

I do think many shameful historic events are swept under the carpet unless an individual has particular interest in aspect of history. I had heard of the race Riots of 1908 but had not studied them in school. I think it is important that events like this are studied so one can the historical context and difficult times this country has gone through.

I do believe shameful historical events do get forgotten. In schools the history books our children read do not tell all. The history books I read did not tell all. I had never heard of the race riots of 1908.

It seems that we have a hard time learning from history whether good or bad. Sometimes, because we're embarrassed, we want to erase an event or a person when the awful event should be an example. When students study history a whole idea like the smoldering racism in the post Civil War U.S. has been skipped, and individual events certainly have been skipped like the 1908 Springfield riot and the Tulsa riot. Studies may go directly to the Civil Rights movement and miss the century between. Society also looks at topics in different ways --try reading How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith.

I think shameful periods in history were easier forgotten before Social Media. Now, it is very hard to ignore, forget or sweep these periods under the rug.

Yes, I think Ana's fears are justified. I think shameful historical events have been covered up in the past, with the intention of being permanently erased, but end up only being temporarily suppressed. The truth always comes to light, even though it make take many millennia to be exposed. For example, Hatshepsut in ancient Egypt was one of the most successful pharaohs, but due to her gender was expunged from the records. Nonetheless, thousands of years later, archeologists re-discovered this long-buried part of our past and she is now well known. Today we do a better job of chronicling history as it happened, but there is still bias, depending upon the lens of the historian.

Ana was correct to worry but I'm not so sure the same could be said about such incidents today. As MariontheLibrarian says, racism following the Civil War is a complete unknown for many of us. We never covered anything about post civil war history, not even the race riots that occurred in the early twentieth century. About the first thing on the docket following the Civil War is World War One and as a result, many important historic events are simply forgotten or completely unknown by many of us. With technology as it is today, there is little that slips past most of us, and Social Media makes reporters out of anyone who wants to speak out - we hear almost too much - more than we need. It might be better for us if some of what is reported were forgotten.

“Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Winston Churchill

I absolutely believe that these types of traumatic events can be lost and have been lost in history. Many schools refuse to teach about the racism that is embedded in our systems and the traumatic events that it has caused. We do not want to repeat this acts and must learn from them by learning about them.

Wendy F I like your quote from Churchill. It says it all.

There seems to be a lot of shameful events that were not talked about rising to the surface. Unfortunately, I am sure that there plenty more that have been permanently erased.

We must rely on our historians, teachers and civic leaders to keep history alive through writings, monuments, museums and even dramatic retellings. Ana's worry that the memory of the 1908 Springfield Riot in fact was no longer taught even in local history classes. It is my hope that these important events are only temporarily forgotten, and retellings such as The House of Lincoln will again educate all on the truths of our past.

Much of our history is not taught to students today. I did not know of the 1908 Springfield race riots. It is sad that many race riots have occurred throughout our history, but hopefully they will not be forgotten. Historical fiction such as this book does a lot to keep history alive for readers. It is my favorite genre.