Letter writer: Vance was a great man who served our people well

Graphic by Lori Deaton

I think Zebulon Vance was a great man who served our people well as state governor and U.S. senator.

By the time of his adult age, he had little to do with the few slaves his family had possessed. He was a staunch Unionist until his state was propelled into a war he wanted to avoid.

If he held patronizing views of American black folks, that wasn’t much different from the views of most white people of his time, including Abraham Lincoln (read Lincoln’s own speeches). I believe he well deserves our respect and the monument that stands in his honor!

Most people of Vance’s time also held what we would today regard as patronizing attitudes toward women. Women could not vote, and it was believed by most people that a woman’s place was in the home.

— Byron F. Hovey
Asheville

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5 thoughts on “Letter writer: Vance was a great man who served our people well

  1. boatrocker

    So did Robert Greer, a NC Black Panthers Party member (1971) serve we the people well in NC.
    So did Tsali- the Cherokee who resisted Jackson’s 1838 Indian Removal Act.
    So did the Greensboro Four (the lunch counter sit ins)

    Equal rights and monuments for all.

    But that might scare the tourists.

    • Lulz

      LOL, so what’s stopping you? Take up donations and create your monuments. Oh I forgot, people like you whine and complain and seek to steal money for these things from taxpayers. It’s your inherent flaw and why you can’t seem to progress lulz. And when the money is stolen to do these things, doesn’t fathom why there isn’t any left over to do actually beneficial things like maintain infrastructure. Out of touch.

      • Phil Williams

        But – didn’t you know, Lulz? These days, everyone gets a trophy…..

      • boatrocker

        “People like you” – sigh- how over used.
        People like me don’t need a monument to look up to someone as a hero.

    • Phil Williams

      I believe there is a marker in Winston-Salem honoring that chapter of the Black Panthers and their positive contributions, several markers and at least one monument I know of to Tsali, and the FW Woolworth building in Greensboro is actually a Civil Rights museum…..By the by – the Vance Monument was not paid for with government or public funds – 2/3 of the cost was directly paid by George Willis Pack, and the other 1/3 was funded thru private subscriptions – mostly solicited by Pack.

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