INTRODUCTION:
It's no secret that America's politics are intensely divided. The advent of the internet has both enriched our lives as well as made it possible for disinformation from malevolent bad-actors to influence our core thinking. A nation that once heralded scientific progress now laughs at education. A nation that revered progress now derides it as "woke". Concepts that were once simple, such as studying our own history, is whitewashed and shrouded in misinformation. Attempts to set the record straight are met with objections such as "but my child will be depressed!" and "Critical Race Theory!"
PERSONAL BACKGROUND:
A significant portion of my education was in the state of South Carolina. I've touched on this in some of our videos. The Civil War was presented in public school textbooks as this glorious adventure where free men were trying to throw off the yoke of federal oppression, and just wanted the right to live their lives as they saw fit. Slavery was portrayed as beneficial to poor African savages, giving them opportunities to become Christian, learn skills, and have free room & board. Slave-owners were benevolent masters who loved and cared for the people that they enslaved. "It's only now in the 20th century that we understand it was wrong to buy people" was the only acceptable response if anyone ever challenged the morality of slavery. My own family didn't much discuss any ancestors who fought for the Union, whereas there were all sorts of legends and stories about those who fought for the South.
SONS OF LIBERTY BACKGROUND:
Shortly after I started the Sons of Liberty Facebook page, I learned about a phenomenon called Confederate Heritage Month, and it is 100% what you think it is: an entire month dedicated to glorifying everything from "my g-g-g-g-pappaw fought for the Confederacy" to the insidiousness of furthering the Lost Cause narrative. Since some of my family were Southern Unionists and abolitionists, I decided that I should celebrate this month and re-appropriate my Southern Culture... but in my own abrasive, bombastic style. If you've seen any of our Confederate Heritage Month content--from page posts to videos--then you know exactly what I'm talking about. And if you haven't seen the videos, you may want to go Fix Yourself. I included a couple of excerpts in our pitch video and in some of the associated media.
"WHAT'S MY MOTIVATION?"
A lot of the resistance that our social media page meets whenever we post about the Civil War comes from people who have the same education experience as I had. Supportive page comments from our beloved "Page Fams" bear out that a lot of us had this same indoctrination, and it was only through a love of learning that we realized everything had been sanitized.
I wanted to branch out with more video content to supplement the daily political posts we make. I was suffering from a lack of inspiration, so I decided to reach out to the page followers and page fans--aka the Page Fams--and find out what they'd like to see. The overwhelming response was "more Civil War history!" mixed with a fair amount of "more angry truck-rant videos", of which I've only ever done one, so I'm baffled there.
Anyway, the consensus was clear: let's talk about the Civil War, and let's debunk some of the mythology... but in our own inimitable style. We asked, you answered, we listened!
SO WHAT'S THE PLAN, MAN?
The Sons of Liberty admin team is creating a 12-part video series where we'll visit sites that are relevant to the Civil War. Sure, we'll focus on big, famous, well-known battles like the king-daddy of them all: Gettysburg (celebrating its anniversary as of the launch of this campaign). We want to visit monuments, markers, battlefields, reenactments, and other historical sites that are relevant to the war. Particularly, we want to focus on things that put the lie to "northern aggression" and the "peculiar institution".
One of the big topics that we want to focus on is the subject of war crimes. Inevitably, our page comments are filled with people who complain about "war crimes" committed by Yankee invaders--such as the scorched earth tactic of General Sherman during his infamous March to the Sea. Conveniently overlooked are things like Confederate abductions of free Blacks living in the North. Or the Battle of the Nueces. Or the Battle of Milliken's Bend. Or the Battle of Poison Springs. Or the Massacre at Fort Pillow. So on our agenda we want to visit some of these sites and talk about the atrocities committed there. The best part is, nobody can shut us down or censor our content, as has been done by state governments with regards to what books and courses can be taught or otherwise banned.
We've got twelve months of content lined up for you, one per month. Tentative things we are looking at doing:
1.) Link up with AdminMatt and go visit Gettysburg
2.) Visit Saunders Field from the Battle of the Wilderness and see if I can locate the spot where a Union soldier and a Confederate soldier got into a fistfight over who was who's prisoner
3.) Visit Milliken's Bend battlefield, which we talk about during Confederate Heritage Month.
4.) Visit the Cedar Creek reenactment in Virginia and film the battle and hang out with page fams that do re-enactments.
5.) Check out Alamance County NC, home of intense Union partisan activity, but also the location of Tom Dooley's cabin-- this is another one of our April heritage posts.
6.) Track Harriett Tubman's "rampage" in South Carolina, where she led ~300 Union soldiers around the Low Country to burn plantations and free enslaved Blacks
7.) Dive on a Civil War wreck immediately off the coast of NC (that's right bitch, I'm Scuba Steve!)
8.) Cheatham Hill, Kennesaw campaign, outside Atlanta GA.
9.) Track one or two authentic women who posed as men so that they could fight... as well as pursue leads on the ultimate fate of a known fake, Loretta Velazquez.
10.) Go visit George Alfred Trenholm's estate in Charleston South Carolina, and visit Fort Oglethorpe in Savannah Georgia with Admin Vee.
11.) Go try and find the actual location of the Battle of the Nueces out near Comfort Texas with Admin E-Lo.
12.) Visit the site of The Battle of Fort Brooke, in Tampa, with AdminJenn.
"WHY SO MUCH MONEY?"
I don't want to do this on a greenscreen in my spare bedroom. I want to take you straight to the sites that aren't as storied or famous. I want to bring a small film crew, where possible, and in addition to paying them I need to accommodate their rates, make sure we're fed and hydrated, and for overnight trips make sure we're not roughing it in a QuikTrip parking lot overnight. There are also IndieGoGo taxes and transaction fees. We've kept the physical merchandise low so as to be able to put more towards content, but we're still going to need to whip up a few t-shirts for certain backer levels. Last but not least some of these places may have entry fees and I can't just pull an Influencer Pout: "do you know who I am?" doesn't work when you look like me.
RISKS & REWARDS:
Creating any kind of film on a budget and a deadline comes with risks and we believe it's important for you to be informed about potential challenges we might face. These could include weather preventing travel, or local sites preventing good filming conditions. Not hitting our target imposes budget constraints that limit where we can go and what types of things we can visit. And as a veteran director of award-winning indie films, there's always some weird unforeseen issue that arises during production (stretch goal: indie film horror stories?). Despite these obstacles, you can take comfort in knowing that our team is committed to thorough planning for unforeseen obstacles and solving them, and delivering an outstanding web-series to you, by you, and for you.
OTHER WAYS TO SUPPORT:
Look--this economy is awful, we get that. We fully understand that not everyone will be able to donate but there are many ways to still show your support! Sharing this campaign on your social media helps raise awareness for our project. Spread the word!
You can also follow us on social media and check out the work we've been doing:
The official Sons of Liberty crowdfunding campaign for our upcoming web-series "Let's Talk About The Civil War" is now live on IndieGoGo! So, GO GO over there and check it out.
Official Sons of Liberty social media:
Sons of Liberty YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SonsofLibertyOfficial
Sons of Liberty Twitter: @Liberty1765
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INDEMAND:
When (not if) we reach and exceed our initial target it means we can keep the campaign open INDEMAND on INDIEGOGO for a limited time.
INDEMAND makes it easier for us as successful campaigners to keep raising funds after our campaign ends.
With INDEMAND, we can accept contributions after your campaign ends, grow our community and reach new audiences and smash new TARGETS.
We’re aware some of you may not have had the time to contribute yet. INDEMAND allows you to still buy the remaining perks and be part of the production process.