Here is a subject I’m often asked to address. This article of mine was published in Teachers of Vision Vol. XLIX, No. 1 Back to School 2003. p. 6. (A publication of Christian Educators Association International.) I hope you like it.

Christians have all heard it said from pulpit and in print, “They (whoever they are) have taken the Bible out of the public schools and forbidden us to teach it.” Such statements are nonsense, propaganda, designed to create a fear of and resentment toward public education. While it is true the Bible does not occupy the strategic position it once held in education, government, and society, ANY teacher may teach their students much more about the Bible than he or she realizes. After teaching English literature in public schools and universities for nine years, I have learned several strategies that will help teachers raise Biblical and cultural literacy in their students.

While law and government policies and societal mores have been a factor in the Bible’s lost presence in public education, actually, the most significant cause of the loss of the scripture’s presence is ignorance. Today, an appalling ignorance of the Bible exists on the part of teachers and students. There is also an ignorance of the significant role the Bible plays in understanding the literature of Western Civilization.

A teacher today has ample opportunity to teach rich facts and insights found in the scriptures simply by the careful instruction of literature. In fact, I would argue that one can’t fully understand British and American literature without a Biblical background. Our literature is full of allusions to Judo-Christian history, people, and scriptures. To not have a Biblical background is to not fully grasp the significance of the poetry, short stories, and novels that our government requires our students to study. Think about the many allusions filling the works of Milton, John Donne, Shakespeare and even modern writers, such as Hawthorne and Faulkner. Many times each week as we study literature in my classroom, I often say something like, “This line, passage, or word is an allusion to something in the Bible. Who can tell me what this refers to?” If the students don’t know, and they usually don’t, I supply the explanation, complete with Biblical reference. In the teaching of Literature lies a Christian’s opportunity to teach the Bible.
For example, consider Singer’s short story, “Gimpel the Fool.” The Jewish and Christian imagery is rich and complex, and the pathetic story of Gimpel’s cruel and immoral wife is an obvious allusion to the prophet Hosea. A teacher can’t teach Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter without teaching about the Puritans and how their thinking was influenced by their fanatical Calvinistic philosophy and how their efforts to control sin actually made sin more powerful.

Ignorance of the Bible is not difficult to discover in the classroom. I always ask my students, especially the more overtly religious ones, “How many have read the whole Bible?” Tragically, after nine years of teaching, I have had no student affirm that he or she has read the whole Bible. When I share with them how I have read the entire Bible over 200 times and have translated the Greek New Testament into English, they can hardly believe it. This reveals a significant problem that exists in even the most fundamental churches in today’s society. Church and home education have moved away from whole Bible teaching and reading to trendy topics and issues that focus on the same few scriptures time and time again. Many of my students are zealous for their faith and very committed to God, but when I question them regarding the Biblical (both Old and New testaments) allusions in literature, they are at a loss. Unfortunately, many of my students confess that much of scriptural material I present to them is new. As you can see, it is not the government that has taken the Bible out.

Scriptural content is not only found in literature. A study of drama reveals that playwrights through the ages possessed an amazing knowledge of the scriptures. Another interesting issue of the importance of a Biblical education is seen in the typical high school study of Shakespeare. I have noticed that the students who could or had worked through the King James Version had a much easier time with Shakespeare’s language. I love the modern translations, but in my writing and teaching, I still use the Authorized version, for that is the version of British and American literature.

True, legally, and I think ethically, a teacher must not proselytize his or her students in classroom situations. Nor do I allow my religious students to hold an evangelical campaign in my class. My classroom is designed to promote thought and learning skills; my lessons are designed to raise the academic abilities and cultural literacy of the students. When a teacher is heavy-handed in matters of the soul, the pressure backfires and the teacher is resented and not respected. Additionally, one should have confidence in the silent power the scriptures possess. Bible verses can effectively perform their Hebrews 4:12 work on their own in just the sharing. Students already have state-approved organizations in public schools, such as the Christian Fellowship of Athletes, that can help the students as well with their social and evangelical needs.

An effective education requires a balance. Knowledge and use of the Bible will help a student’s education to be well rounded. Yet, though we often have a great zeal to communicate the scriptures, we must be careful to avoid a tendency to dismiss or take lightly the other important elements of education a child needs from history, science, the arts—and yes, even exposure to views contrary to the Christian view. I feel secure enough in my beliefs to examine or look at opposing points of view. If I’m right and my thinking and learning is sound, what is there to fear? Answering challenges and reasoning through problem areas should only strengthen one’s faith, not cause its loss. We should expect such challenges and rise to meet them. Yet, we must be prepared. It is truly sad when the authors of literature or skeptics attack scripture and seem to know more about biblical subjects than Christians do.

Teachers too, need to be well rounded. I know that many fundamentalists might argue that the Bible is all that is needed in education. This Puritan notion is ridiculous, a mindset resembling the Taliban who virtually have banned anything educational, artistic, and cultural from their society except for the Koran. Everything a teacher knows can matter in the classroom, including what they know about the scriptures. Students in this apathetic age need teachers who know literature and the scriptures, and they need teachers who know how to use them both effectively to open, probe, challenge, and broaden the minds of the young disciples they instruct. If the teacher knows and teaches literature well, he or she has ample opportunity to expose students to the scriptures.

I am so excited about the publication of my children’s book, Jim Limber Davis: A Black Orphan in the Confederate White House. Last night, I was interviewed live for 30-40 minutes on a national online radio station, www.dixiebroadcasting.com. This station has a rapidly growing audience, and if you’re interested in the South, its history, and in issues currently facing the South, you should tune in. Of the 10,000 or so stations online, Dixie Broadcasting has been rated #36! If you missed the interview, you can find and download it by clicking on the Pelican Pages Segment. It should be available in about a week. Look for either my name, Rickey Pittman, or for Jim Limber Davis: A Black Orphan in the Confederate White House.
Here is the publisher’s description of my children’s book that they posted on Amazon.

Book Description
The true story of the adopted black child of Jefferson Davis.
Jim Limber Davis was rescued from an abusive guardian by Varina Davis when he was only five years old. Jefferson and Varina Davis welcomed him into their home, the Confederate White House, as one of the family, and Jim lived with them until the fall of the Confederacy.

When Union soldiers invaded Richmond, Virginia, they captured Jefferson Davis. Later, they kidnapped Jim Limber in Georgia and spread cruel rumors that he was Jefferson Davis’s slave. This true story provides a glimpse of how Jim was accepted as one of the Davis’s children and reveals their family’s love and compassion for him.

About the Author
Rickey E. Pittman, 1998 grand prize winner of the prestigious Ernest Hemingway Short Story Competition, is an active member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He is also a Civil War reenactor, a public speaker on issues and topics related to the War Between the States, and a musician who travels and performs original and Civil War-period music. The inspiration to write Jim Limber Davis: A Black Orphan in the Confederate White House came from a chance discovery of Jim Limber Davis’s existence. Pittman proceeded with the encouragement of friends and the desire to provide reading audiences with an “accurate book written from a Southern perspective” among “the politically driven, and often historically inaccurate materials currently available on the Civil War.”

Born in 1952 in Dallas, Texas, Pittman earned a bachelor’s degree in New Testament Greek and a master’s degree in English from Abilene Christian University. His prolific writing career took off after graduation; he produced numerous plays, works of nonfiction, collections of poetry, and short stories. After moving to Monroe, Louisiana, Pittman was added to the Louisiana Roster of Artists in 1998. Working closely with regional art councils, he was commissioned to write historical plays for Franklin and Madison Parishes.

Pittman is an enthusiast of many types of music, and he is also a singer, guitarist, and songwriter for Angus Doubhghall, a local Scots-Irish band.

Judith Hierstein believes that “pictures should begin where the written word ends.” She encourages children to share in her love of learning about other cultures through illustrated books. Ms. Hierstein holds a B.A. in art from the University of Iowa. A former elementary-school teacher, she now teaches high-school graphic and media arts. She sees digital art as “another exciting media to explore when illustrating for children.” Aside from teaching and learning,Hierstein has also illustrated a number of children’s books for Pelican Publishing. Ms. Hierstein resides in Tucson, Arizona.

Here is the Amazon link for my book: http://www.amazon.com/Jim-Limber-Davis-Orphan-Confederate/dp/158980435X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-4008325-1560968?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177553009&sr=1-1

Tonight, Wednesday, May 9, at 9:00 p.m. Central Time, I’ll be interviewed live by Ray McBerry, the founder and president of Dixie Broadcasting. This free and live online station has become a powerful voice of the South. I’ll be discussing my writing, especially my children’s book, Jim Limber Davis: A Black Orphan in the Confederate White House, and my collection of short historical fiction, Stories of the Confederate South.
Tune in if you can. You can listen to the live broadcast and interview here: www.dixiebroadcasting.com

One of the most beautiful paintings I’ve ever seen is The Meeting on the Turret Stairs
by Frederick William Burton (Irish, 1816-1900). According to the link I have below, the painting is in the National Gallery of Ireland. According to one source I wrote about this piece of Burton’s art, the painting is “an illustration of an episode from a Danish ballad, translated by Whitley Stokes and published in Fraser’s Magazine in January, 1855. It shows the final parting of Hellelil and her bodyguard, Hildebrand, the Prince of Engellend. Their tragic affair results in the slaying of seven of Hellelil’s brothers by Hildebrand, and his own death at the hand of the youngest.” I was so moved by the painting and the story that I wrote the poem I’m posting in this blog.
You can see the painting here: http://www.midnight-muse.com/1fbmeet.htm

For some more discussion on this painting , go to: http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-149.html

Here’s my poem that the painting inspired. I call it “Chanson.”

CHANSON

The story of the painting is sad,
A tale of a tragic love,
Born in conflict, recklessness and lust,
The kind that lasts forever,
The kind with no happy ending.

Six times he had battled brother-protectors,
Six times they had said goodbye,
Six times he had returned to her alive.
One brother is left.
This time, the brother will return.

That’s us in the painting,
You are the princess, and
I, the desperate, doomed,
Mesmerized knight,
About to fight a last battle.
Like them . . .
We ascended an ancient,
Winding iron staircase
Into a dark balcony corner for a hurried, last embrace.

You are amative,
An inamorata,
The perfect beauty,
My beau ideal.
You slide your hand into mine,
And I, a moonstruck amorist,
Flattered and ennobled,
Am dissolved by your touch.
My heart is so enflamed, I fear
It will burn to ashes.

You are a chanson,
The French love song
I could never write.
Your brown eyes are the counterpoint,
Your soft voice the descant,
Layering the melody of
Love’s subjective mysticism.
The music fills my empty, aching heart,
And though my poetry is sad,
The song you give me tonight is not.

Two lovers in a dark balcony corner
Makes a beautiful painting,
But, you and I, we’re only a tableau,
A frozen moment on a rented stage,
Mirroring two unknown lovers’ tragedy,
Words fail us.
Like her, you turn your head,
And I, I’ve lost the battle already,
We both know I can’t return.

Here’s a review of my short story collection, Stories of the Confederate South, that was published in a local magazine, Louisiana Road Trips, and on Amazon.

Those who consider themselves to be “politically correct” might mistakenly overlook Stories of the Confederate South. But Rickey Pittman is such a talented writer, that to read this collection of stories may cause a total shift in perspective and opinion about the southerners of the Civil War. I consider myself to be a Southern “liberal,” so have always been unquestioningly offended by symbols of the Confederacy, such as its controversial flag and the song “Dixie.” Those symbols embodied racism to me. The history books teach us that the Civil War was only about slavery and lead us to believe that all southerners were cruel slave owners and all Northerners benevolent abolitionists.

Stories of the Confederate South kills these sacred cows and makes the politically correct question our opinions and beliefs. The history books don’t tell us that General Lee was against slavery or that General Grant owned slaves until 1864. Who knew that there were more free blacks in the South than in the North, and that some were even wealthy?

Rickey Pittman writes these stories of the Confederacy from many perspectives, male and female, old and young about the actual people and types of people that need to be remembered. The diversity adds a variety that is missing when the South comes to mind. The powerful narrative, “The Taking of Jim Limber,” told from the perspective of a Yankee soldier, recounts the little known true story that Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, adopted a six-year-old, free black boy into his family and raised him as his own. During the Civil War, Federal Troops violently invaded the Davis home and took little Jim Limber from his loving adoptive family. He was abused by the Federal soldiers and taken on tour like a circus animal to be displayed as the beaten slave of Jefferson Davis. After receiving orders from Washington that the cruel side-show must stop, young Jim Limber was taken into the swamps by two generals and mysteriously disappeared. This story, as well as all the others ends with a powerful gut-level punch that makes you pause and reflect before eagerly reading the next story.

Pittman’s female characters make us realize that the Civil War was also a war against the women of the South, who were left behind to provide for and defend their families and homes from the Federal troops and the atrocities that accompany every war.
Stories of the Confederate South shows us how the Civil War changed everything including our views on the role of government and the power government can have.
Pittman successfully avoids stereotypes that have come to be associated with the Confederacy and Civil War. Stories of the Confederate South is a collection of powerful narratives that can change a lifetime of beliefs. Rickey Pittman is not just “whistling Dixie.”

Here is a recent review of my new children’s book that I found on the book’s Barnes and Noble and Amazon pages:

Destroying Stereotypes: A Review of Jim Limber Davis: A Black Orphan in the Confederate White House

Looking at the winners of the Caldecott and Newbery Medals, I notice that many of the winners are children’s books that deal with serious subjects in an entertaining way. Books dealing with subjects such as autism, 12 Step Programs and endangered species have won medals recently. These are books with stories that need to be told.

In Jim Limber Davis: A Black Orphan in the Confederate Whitehouse, Rickey Pittman tells a story that needs to be told. It is the story of a little known figure in history, a young African-American boy during the Civil War who was adopted by the family of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy. Reading this book will spark discussion with your children about the Civil War, but the skillful writing of Rickey Pittman and beautiful illustrations of Judith Hierstein give us a perspective that is not northern or southern, but human. It’s a story about a time when the country was divided over slavery, but there was racial harmony in the last place the history books would have us suspect, in the home of the President of the Confederacy. The book begins:

“Jim Limber Davis was only five years old when his mother and father died from fever, and he was placed in the care of a relative in Richmond. Jim’s guardian was a cruel man. He often whipped him for the smallest mistakes and sent him to bed without supper.”

The story continues to tell how one day when Jefferson Davis’s family was riding through the city in a carriage, Varina Davis, Jefferson Davis’s wife, saved a young boy being beaten in the street. She rescued the child and brought him home to the live with the family in the Confederate White House.

Although the story takes place over 130 years ago, the message is quite modern, as my eight year old daughter pointed out. When asked the message of the book, she said “It’s love and friendship that matters, not skin color.” My daughter understood the message of racial harmony, something she can apply in her daily life, while also being educated on the Civil War, an important, but rarely discussed event in history. Another modern theme she pointed out was “All sorts of people can make up a family. They don’t even have to be related to have love.” which is really applicable in this era of the blended family. In Jim Limber Davis: A Black Orphan in the Confederate Whitehouse both author and illustrator push us to throw out old stereotypes about the North and the South, and realize that we are all connected.

My children’s book, Jim Limber Davis: A Black Orphan in the Confederate White House is in and can be ordered online! I really do think this is a story that needs to be told.  Please share it with your friends who have children. You can’t go wrong when you give a book as a gift.  A book will always have attached memories. The holiday and birthday gifts that I most value and cause me to think the most about the person who gave it are certain books on my shelf.  Also, giving books is an act that promotes literacy.

Go to this link and check out my new children’s book:

http://www.pelicanpub.com/Press_Release.asp?passval=9781589804357&title=Jim%20Limber%20Davis:%3CBR%3E%20A%20Black%20Orphan%20in%20the%20Confederate%20White%20House

Here is a short summary of the book that Pelican included on the page: Jim Limber Davis was rescued from an abusive relative by First Lady Varina Davis when he was only five years old. Jefferson and Varina Davis then became his legal guardians and Jim lived with them in the White House for several years, enjoying life as a member of their family.

When the Union Soldiers invaded Richmond, Virginia, and captured Jefferson Davis, they also kidnapped Jim Limber. Soon after his capture, cruel rumors spread that Jim Limber was Jefferson Davis’ slave. After the Civil War, Jefferson Davis tried to locate Jim, but he was never found.

This true story shows how Jim Limber was accepted as one of the Davis’s own children and reveals their love for him. Although Jim’s whereabouts after the war still remain a mystery, this story offers an example of compassion during this complex time in our nation’s history.

We writers must be crazy to want this life we’ve chosen. I rose at 5:00 a.m. and left the house by 6:15. I arrived in Jefferson around 9:00, and was given a table. I shared the table with a beautiful young author, Elizabeth Ashley Richardson. She was promoting her first children’s book, The Puppy and His Bone. I scanned her book, and the story is one that promotes friendship. A valuable life-lesson for children. The artwork was of superior quality. I would encourage you to take a look at her book. Elizabeth is also an actress, and just bubbling over with creative ideas. She’s just moving back to Louisiana from Indiana.  She thinks she’ll end up in Shreveport. You can see her book here: http://www.amazon.ca/Puppy-Bone-Elizabeth-Ashley-Richardson/dp/1425986536/ref=sr_1_7/702-4478033-6395211?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178416465&sr=1-7

We were the only two authors Kathy Patrick had with her today at her Beauty and the Book Salon. The crowds were good for the festival, but the crowd-flow was rather thin and things were slow where we were. I wished a few times I had brought my laptop so I could have been working on something, or sharing some of my writing with Elizabeth. Nevertheless, we both made enough sales to pay our gas for the trip and both of us made many contacts. Also, I was able to set up some future music, speaking, and writing opportunities. When I don’t lose money, make a new writing friend, and set up future opportunities for my writing business, I’d have to say it’s been a good day, though it’s been a long one.

Last night, I finished Vicki Hendrick’s book, Cruel Poetry. Wonderful read. She is indeed a master of the noir genre. One reviewer called her, “the high priestess of neo-noir.” The novel is a little disturbing though: One of the main characters especially rattled me. His name was Richard, he was a poet and professor, and his life disintegrates after he falls hopelessly in love with a redhead. (Egad!)

Today, I have much writing business to attend to and a writing contest I want to enter. Of course, there are also chores I must attend to in order to keep my household running.

Tomorrow, I’ll have a long day. I’m off to Jefferson, Texas for that city’s Historical Pilgramage: Home Tour and Spring Festival. There’s a lot going on at this festival, and the crowds should be really good. Some of the events include, The Diamond Bessie Murder Trial play, the Battle of Port Jefferson Civil War Reenactment, a parade in downtown Jefferson, a Civil War Ball on Saturday night, and a long list of other things to do. I intend to visit the Gone with the Wind Museum there if I get the time and chance. For more information on this festival, you can go to this link: http://www.theexcelsiorhouse.com/tour.htm
I’ll be in Confederate uniform on Main Street and setting up a table to sell some books (Stories of the Confederate South) at Kathy Patrick’s salon, Beauty and the Book. Though not in my hands, I intend to promote my new children’s book, Jim Limber Davis: A Black Orphan in the Confederate White House. It has been printed and should be available beginning today from Pelican Publishers. Some good news: Pelican informed me that hundreds of copies of my children’s book have already been pre-sold! Pelican has also agreed to publish Stories of the Confederate South. I’ll be transferring the publication rights to Pelican sometime this month.

Camp Ford: A Prisoner of War Stockade at Tyler Texas

Ironically, after reading Kantor’s Andersonville, I discovered the existence of another prisoner of war camp, Camp Ford, within easy driving distance. It is located four miles northwest of Tyler, Texas, just off Loop 271. On my way to visit my parents in Kemp, Oklahoma, I stopped and checked it out. The marker at the site says:

Camp Ford

On this site during the Civil War was located Camp Ford, the largest prisoner of war compound for Union troops west of the Mississippi River, named in honor of Col. John S. ‘Rip’ Ford who originally established a training camp here in 1862. It was converted in the summer of 1863 to a prison camp.

It first consisted of four to five acres enclosed by a stockade sixteen feet high. In the spring of 1864 following the Confederate victories at Mansfield, Louisiana and Mark’s Mills, Arkansas the enclosure was doubled to accommodate the large influx of prisoners. Approximately 4700 Federals were confined here during this period. This overcrowded condition was somewhat relieved through a series of prisoner of war exchanges between the North and the South.

Union soldiers representing nearly one hundred different regiments plus sailors from gunboats and transports were confined here. In addition there were imprisoned Union sympathizers, spies, and even Confederate deserters.

The prisoners constructed their own shelters ranging from log huts and burrows called “shebangs” to brush arbors and tents made of blankets. A spring located about 100 yards southwest of this marker furnished an ample supply of good water. Their meager rations, essentially the same as that of their guards, usually consisted of beef and corn meal and were sometimes supplemented by vegetables purchased from nearby farms.
Although escape attempts were frequent, very few were successful due to the long distance to Union lines and the difficulty in eluding the tracking hounds used by the Confederate guards.

Even though conditions were primitive it compared favorably with the other Civil War prison camps. Camp Ford continued to serve as a prison until the surrender of the Trans-Mississippi Department in May, 1865. It was later destroyed by Federal occupation troops.

You can read more about Camp Ford here:  http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/ford/index.html