Brian McIver sent us his latest project a slave hut with black slaves.
Sorry I have not been in touch for a few weeks, I have been real busy with my real job & family stuff.
In between all this someone who had seen some of my buildings on Ebay & the Black troops I did asked if I could build them a slave hut with a few slave figures to go with it. Well the hut was easy enough but there is not much out there as regarding Blacks/slaves. the best I could do was convert some of the BMC “Andersonville” figures & he women from one of Steve Weston’s Mexican sets (sort of an ongoing tribute to Bill McMasters really).
These photos are not so much “Little House on the prairie” as “Small hut on the bio”.
The next series of photos shows how the figures looked originally and the final result.
Great job on both the cabin and the conversions. Amazing what a little imagination can do.
An absolutely amazing creation — brilliantly original in conception! The final missing piece for all ACW dioramas.
Well said, Don.
Great conversions. The cabin & folks on the porch could be at “La Cote Joyeuse” in Natchitoches parish on the Red River, or the Oakland plantation in Louisiana. Recommend “Legends of Oakland Plantation” by Sandra Prud’homme Haynie.
Awesome Job,Brian !
Great job and some incredibly crafty ideas.
Really nice work. Like the others suggested, a neglected subject.
GREAT JOB!!.I LIKE THE WAY YOU PAINT THOSE FACES,IN DARK COLORED SKIN IS HARDER TO DO THE SMALL DETAIL WITH SO GREAT ACCURACY
Thank you Erwin……….
This is a very original idea and beautifully executed. I love “background detail” civilian figures like this. However, as great as these figures are, I really hope nobody outside the toy soldier community with a “PC” mindset sees these and makes a fuss about someone making “toy black slaves”. Last year I remember reading about a toy store in Sweden that sold Nazi figures catching a lot of flak from outraged customers and the media.
http://www.shalomlife.com/business/27258/this-swedish-toy-store-is-selling-nazi-toy-soldiers/
Well ,there two different toys, the ones Lego type are more for children, ours more for the hobby historical context and collectors I guess!?
Ironically both are historical correct and part of history that can not be denied neither ignore.
In Europe many countries, specially those neutral during WW2 do not have a void or prohibition in any WW2 Nazi related item been sold in public. Wile others included Germany have a ban .Still if you go and see toy soldiers shows in Germany,you may find plenty of Nazi items and the famous elastolin/others pre and ww2 era German soldiers with all banner in display sale and are one of the most expensive and high sold ever because of the historical double contest value for collectors and even other non toy soldier collector.
Does blowing horns are either person when feel direct offended or represent organization that combat it like the one in the link. They have the right and desire, yet they can not stop many.
Sample the toy line COBI from Poland that made 10 times more accurate Lego type than Lego itself in the ww2 type, produced few with all symbols ,then after some complain remove it as Poland has a ban on Nazi symbols too. And this line of toys is educational made for small kids.
Still they have the large ww2 included WSS,Gestapo else figures and armor and sale very good in Europe because is history regardless of the bad taste and not like of some.
Egads, I’m going to stay out of that one or maybe not. It seems to me today people are just waiting for some small insignificant event to blow out of proportion and make a splash on social media. It has actually gotten to the point that I am reluctant to talk to anyone in the work place for fear of saying something they may consider off color. These people just smile at each other as they pass in the aisles and know nothing about their fellow employees. Hard to foster a team atmosphere when people are afraid to talk to each other. A shame it is.
Ed. Very true your words; sad but true and unfortunately sound same way as communism fear mentality spread out. I have same issues with my daughter at school who at 7 years old knows more about very few “minor character” and none about George Washington and the war of independence. Because she is been teach the wrong way on purpose. Then we have these new generation that are complete ignorant of history and how THIS COUNTRY rise in history.
My daughters are both college graduates and neither of them knows squat about the Alamo or much about history period. Heck neither new what In Da Gadda Da Vida was either, until they played part on the Simpsons.
Sad but true!!I’m doing second teaching at home to mine so she lean more, least basic …
Hope I can do some work right as time is hard in between and kids get bombarded with so much crap these days.
Erwin & Ed, my son has the same situation at his school. Having just finished 3rd grade, he has learned all about the man who invented potato chips and several other interesting, but minor figures in American history, but absolutely NOTHING about the greater scope of the subject. The history books about military or exploration available in his school library seem either purposefully drab or aimed at instilling a negative view of history (The “You Wouldn’t Want To Be A…” series for example, which illustrate in detail all the hideous things that would happen to you if you were a pirate or a Civil War soldier or a pioneer or whatever.) A far cry from my childhood in the ’70s when I could turn on the TV and watch all kinds of historical entertainment aimed at kids and get all kinds of fascinating colorful history books and historical toys. That all changed starting slowly in the late ’70s.
To continue the discussion about current education and the lack of what I consider proper historical education (I majored in history at Gettysburg College back in the early ’70’s). When my wife and I bought our present home, we made a point to purchase in the school district where I attended high school. To be brief, the district was and still is very highly rated, but the PC crowd has taken control. When my son was in tenth grade, and taking what all of us old heads would have called European History, he had an opportunity to do a presentation that included a research paper on Nazi Germany, specifically about Goebbels and the Nazi propaganda machine. He jumped at the opportunity (as so many teenaged boys are still fascinated by the Nazis). I made it a point to help him find enough qualified sources for his paper and presentation. He then asked if he could take some war souvenirs that I have that were brought back from the war by relatives who served in the 2nd World War. Reluctantly, I allowed him to take a cotton Nazi arm band and a “sleeve” regimental insignia, both held together by a Nazi breast pin (eagle clasping a swastika). I made certain that he introduced those items by explaining how many relatives he had who enlisted to fight in the war, what they did, who was killed in combat, etc. Just as I feared, the PC teacher jumped all over him as he made his presentation. We designed the presentation so that he would quote one source and then another that presented a different viewpoint. Before my son could present the second position (usually the one that demonstrated the evils of the Third Reich), the teacher would challenge his presentation and not allow him to present the opposing viewpoint. Then, after he talked about how people like his relatives joined up to stop the horrors that were happening in Europe during the war and was about to show the “war trophies,” the teacher said, in front of the entire class, that he was physically repulsed that those items still existed. As a result, my son spent his two remaining years of high school avoiding any opportunity to express an opinion for fear it would cost him a grade. Now, he is a tour guide in D.C. and has no problem “”telling it like it is.” Also, his younger sister refused to be intimidated by the PC educators and constantly challenged those who refused to allow her to express an opinion. Maybe there is still some hope for free thought. Sorry to prattle on so long, but the whole idea of what passes for education nowadays irritates me. I promise my next comments will be about toy soldiers. Have a good evening gentlemen.
well even that most of us collect toy soldiers=meaning war related action figures. Civilian are need and wanted. If Marx and few other did roman era an classic period slaves ,why not some could do some African XVI-XIX centuries slaves as most new world was using then and were part of history. So far African been represented in few colors unit and as African warriors but not as slaves. Just an opinion saying what could be done, generic clothed slave could well be used for many periods as their clothing style did not change that much. In the other side I bet won’t be of much profit to any toy soldier producer as not military/war related but companies such as Safari-LTD and few others as being doing educational historical set could well invest on it.
After spending eighteen years in the classroom before being forced to retire due to service-connected injuries, I can personal attest there were many of us who tried to teach proper history and instill some sense of patriotism/love of country. But we were up against so much. Too often history is a matter of “memorize and flush.”
My generation, the “Baby Boomers” had history all around us growing up. The first movie I remember going to the theater to see was John Wayne’s “The Alamo.” TV was full of shows about historical characters, “Daniel Boone,” “Jim Bowie,” “Wyatt Earp,” to name a few – and I’m sure those reading could name many more. Yes, I know these films, shows, and stories were probably not historically accurate – but at least we knew who these people were when the time came to earn the true story.
Remember when we used to sing American folk songs in our Music classes in Grade School? Again, we were introduced to our culture and our heroes. When we studied these things in history later on they were familiar to us.
How different the kids’ influences today. There are very few historical-based films or shows made these days and those that do fail, either because they are poorly made or poorly promoted. None of my kids sang traditional songs in their music classes in school. So when I tried to teach US History to them they had no background to what I was trying to teach them. None of it meant anything to them – and I only had so much time to cram the course of study down their throats hoping some of it would stick.
Then there was the standardized testing. In the name of education reform teachers’ job performance was based upon test results. In Alabama our students had to pass a graduation exam composed of 100 questions chosen randomly from a list of 5000 composed by a committee of professors and other “experts.” To preserve the “validity” of the test teachers had no idea – other than general guidelines. I likened it at one education hearing (at which our governor was present) to teaching our students to hunt for oranges, using apples to practice on blindfolded.
Here are some of the questions I learned from students after they had taken the test:
What year did Marconi invent the radio? a) 1894 b) 1895 c)1896 d) 1897
Why did the US enter the war on the Allies’ side in 1917?
a) Germany invaded Belgium.
b) The Germans’ use of poisoned gas angered many Americans.
c) Germany was losing the war.
d) President Wilson believed Russia would be a good ally because the Russian Revolution originally established a Democratic government.
Well, Alabama got rid of its graduation exam but now we are going off other standardized tests used by the rest of the nation. This isn’t much better, I was told by one teacher that because the ACT only had three questions related to the American Civil War she was only spending two days on it.
I know this has run long but I thought I’d throw that in the discussion as one who fought the system for years. Nothing like saying, “Remember last week when we learned about the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor?” and getting blank stares from the class – even the A students.
Memorize and flush.
I had many talks with Effrem Arenstein one of the brothers that started LIDO toys in 1948. Like many other toy makers of the time he was Jewish. He took a set of WWI small plastic biplanes marked with decals by country into a store in NYC hoping for a sale and the owner threw him out saying he would never sell any damn German stuff “and don’t come back”! Like I mentioned many of our favorite toy sellers in the 1950s were Jewish and had lost relatives to the holocaust. When I told Mr Effrems niece how happy I was when Louis Marx made WWII Germans in 1963 she said “WHY??”. I said so we could have bad guys to fight. She just didn’t like it. A few months ago I put some old Tootsietoy AA trucks on ebay with some Mars taliban and called them ISIS bad guys for your NATO troops to fight. I had one guy on facebook who went absolutely nuts, swearing etc… He did not want to hear that guys want bad guys to fight. it got out of control.
Kent
Right now using ISIL in an ad would not be good in my book. Our local papers have been hiding the atrocities this group have been doing. If you look at the Daily Mail from the UK you will see a litany of crimes against them.
Another side story, here where I work I they have a bit where people get their picture posted and they list 5 things you didn’t know about them. Well, when I tried to post mine one of the 5 things I mentioned was that I have been stabbed, shot, bludgeoned, had a heart attack and cancer, but I’m not dead yet. I considered it a victory over adversity. They said this was too raw, so I should change it to something happier. I of course declined, what could be happier than survival? So, now there are 5 things about me, that they will not know. I must say the whole experience made me wonder what kind of mamby pamby people do I work with and do I really want them to know me? I think not.
Yes we can talk same way as Mark Twain did because we can offend few(“many”) others who direct the most. Even I’m not my self a fan of MT and his view I like may on his writings and quotes.Here ARE SOME QUOTES FROM HIM.
I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.
– Mark Twain
Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
– Mark Twain
Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.
– Mark Twain
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.
– Mark Twain
A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.
– Mark Twain
It’s not the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size of the fight in the dog.
– Mark Twain
A left hook to the liver makes all men equal.
– Ed Borris
Very evocative of another time and place. Some blacks were little affected by the Civil War. The Gullah-Geechee Group seeks to preserve the heritage of Africans who settled the Low Counties of Florida and South Carolina: http://gullahgeecheegroup.com/