Virginia Scores Big in the Top 10!

Atlantic Monthly recently published its "Top 100 Most Influential Figures in American History." I was pleased to see that, out of the top 10, Virginians took 4 slots! I was even more pleased to see that Robert E. Lee maintained a spot coming in at #57. Though that is somewhat gratifying, Lee should certainly have made the top 5. Ignorance of American history continues to be a major problem in our country. The objective study of Lee's life certainly reveals him to be a brilliant military leader, dedicated father, godly Christian, and a committed educator - not to mention his humility and efforts to reconcile our Nation after the War Between the States. All of this is so obvious, despite politically correct historians' efforts to tarnish Lee's character and contributions. Modern "scholars" with an agenda despise Lee because he towers above them in character and morality. Rather than try to better themselves by Lee's example, they find it easier to attempt to impugn his reputation. Its much easier to tear down someone else's charcter than to build up one's own. They attempt to hide their disdain for Lee and what he stood for (Christianity and the concept of the "gentleman") behind their "objective scholarship." Such conduct makes men - compared to Lee - pathetic moral midgets. America needs heroes - real heroes. Hopefully, with Virginia's celebration of Lee's 200th birthday next year, my fellow citizens will once again take notice of Lee's greatness and emulate his model. I am thankful to be able to count Lee as one of my heroes.

Back to the "Top 100" . . . Virginian Booker T. Washington deserves a much higher slot than #98. As I wrote in a magazine article of Washington:

“My life had its beginning in the midst of the most miserable, desolate, and discouraging surroundings.” So writes the great black educator Booker T. Washington on the first page of his autobiography Up From Slavery (Williamstown, MA: Corner House Publishers, 1978). Not a promising start, but Washington’s life of discipline and sheer determination holds many lessons for Christians involved in any business endeavor today. As a black man entering American society just after the Civil War, his accomplishments are all the more remarkable. Though Washington would eventually make Tuskegee Institute in Alabama one of the most successful schools in the South (in 1905, Tuskegee turned out more self-made millionaires than Yale, Harvard, and Princeton universities combined), his humble beginnings gave no indication of his future success.