Blood Done Sign My Name Analysis

Blood Done Sign My Name, penned by Timothy Tyson in 2004, “is both memoir and history” that unflinchingly centers on the complex chronicle of race relations in North Carolina (Tyson 323). Through the author’s attempt to rediscover “the other South” – the South that has been systematically obliterated from history, the memoir suggests that white Americans must candidly confront its society’s segregated past if they are to genuinely reconcile. There can only be restorative justice if the perpetrators – white supremacists and neo-confederates – acknowledge their wrongdoings and society takes steps to amend them.
The world is living histories. For instance, communities speak the languages that are inherited from the past and, practice cultural and religious traditions that have not been created on the spur of a moment. In this sense, acknowledging history is essential for rooting people in time. Nonetheless, sometimes a dreadful past can inhibit a country to undertake its own history. For example, the United States has long been telling

their people the tale of a notable, civic and non-violent movement that created a more inclusive America where equality triumphs. However, this tale is narrated inversely in Blood Done Sign My Name, as Tyson details into how Oxford closed its public recreation facilities to prevent integration, how Marrow's indicted murderers were publicly condemned, yet acquitted, and how the 1898 massacre of African American in Wilmington, which overthrew Reconstruction, was forgotten and censored. In an overall impression, the content of the memoir destroys the more recent and clean version of the Civil Rights Movement.
As Tyson continue to recount, the town's newspaper’s records of the murder and the massacre were mysteriously removed from local public archives. This aspect lucidly reveals how white supremacist and neo-confederates have manipulated historical memory and “ignored all evidence to the contrary to make enthusiasm for the Confederacy posthumously unanimous” (Tyson, 172). Emphatically, this attempt is injudicious because it prevents America from learning the reality, and thus cannot recognize its menacing past. Consequently, it results the prideful country to appear oblivious and coward to the world. It also results in individuals unknowingly deny history; therefore they omit the fullest sense of self and shared community, that their personal development and responsible citizenship depend on.
Furthermore, the Civil Rights Movement would not have been a success if blood was not shed, if sacrifices were not made, if weapons were not used as a mean of self-defense and riots. Such knowledge should be made accessible to and confronted by America, to resolve the disarming myth, to honor those who sacrificed for equality, and essentially, to restore justice. This confrontation, is not only courageous, but it also assists to redeem, reflect and release one from regrets from having to witness, or to learn about various inhuman treatments and bloodshed during the so-called ‘peaceful’ movement. However, even though acknowledging the past carries substantial benefits, some people choose to ignore history and only to focus on the present.
Some people, including popular figures like the Buddha, Derek Walcott, Andre Maurois, or Denis Waitley, firmly believe that avoid dwelling in the past is the key to happiness.

It is because, in certain situations, history can heave painful and embarrassing memories, as demonstrated in the tone of repentance in Tyson’s reflection. Hence, refusing to confront the past appears inevitable for many human beings in the effort of maintaining the ‘welfare’ of their psyches. However, in this situation of post-Civil Rights Era’s misapprehension, a candid confrontation can remedy the ignorance and passiveness of America, as it will explain what they are reconciling for and, why, while helping America to restore its root. In addition, it is also imperative to not confuse between acknowledging the past and being accused for what happened. Only then can the United States of America fully heal and mingle with its nowadays-multicultural

society.