Remembering an Event Long Past for the First Time (NYT)

From the New York Times:

Many times we are told to never forget. Often an event recalled was an infamous one at the time of its occurance - the Holacaust, Pearl Harbor, the Civil War, the 9-11-01 attacks.

Then there are the acts we confront later and try to recall when those before us just wanted to forget or turn the other way.

100 years after the fact, a group recently gathered in Atlanta to commemorate the 1906 race riot there.

Racial strife back then shut down Atlanta for four days and ended with the bodies of black men hanging from trees and streetlights.

But until recently most, including many educated locals, had heard nothing about it.

Reports the New York Times, "The riot, so contrary to Atlanta's conception of itself as the progressive, racially harmonious capital of the New South, had been erased from the city's consciousness, left out of timelines and textbooks".

In the months leading up to the 100th anniversary theer has been a concerteed effort to correct teh city's amensia with walking tours, public art, memorial services, numerous articles anbd new books.

For more see: The New York Times, Sunday, September 24, 2006, by Shaila Dewan, "National Report", page 22; http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/us/24riot.html?_r=1&oref=slogin