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Woods Finishes Tied For Fourth At The Masters

Tiger Woods tied for fourth at Sunday's Masters tournament, his first PGA event, following a five-month absence preceded by a sex scandal.

Woods shot a 277 over the four-day tournament, tying K.J. Choi. Phil Mickelson won the the Masters and the traditional green jacket, shooting a 272. Lee Westwood finished second, shooting a 275, and Anthony Kim rounded out the top three, shooting a 276.

Woods was not happy with his performance. Although some golf professionals were not sure Woods, the world's No. 1 golfer, would even make the opening cut, following his long layoff in which the married father of two entered sex rehab after admitting to having several mistresses.

Woods said he came to Augusta National to win. Woods birdied the 18th hole, assuring a fourth place finish, but he saw no reason to celebrate.

Woods' appearance boosted the Masters' television audience. ESPN broadcast Thursday's opening Masters round, and Nielsen Co. reported an audience of 4.94 million, up 47% compared with 2009's Masters' television audience. ESPN broadcast Thursday's and Friday's rounds, and CBS-television broadcast Saturday's round and Sunday's final.

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Confederate History Month Could Lead To A Wider Study Of Black Soldiers Who Fought For The South

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's declaration of April as Confederate History Month caused a national stir because he initially failed to mention northern and southern armies fought the Civil war to end slavery, but McDonnell's proclamation may shed more light on black men who fought for the confederacy, including those who rode with Confederate Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest.

An estimated 65,000 black men fought for the Confederacy far fewer than the 179,000 black men who fought for the Union Army, and the 19,000 black men who served in the Union Navy, according to the National Archives & Records Administration in College Park, Md. Some 13,000 black Confederate soldiers, mostly organized by local Confederate commanders and state militias, were involved in combat, including the First Battle of Bull Run, writes Scott K. Williams in the paper, "Black Confederates in the Civil War." Toward the end of the Civil War, Confederate leaders organized the Confederate States Colored Troops, similar to the north's segregated colored troops.

So why would slaves side with their slave masters?

Former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, whose grandfather was a slave, tells The NorthStar News & Analysis blacks fought for the Confederacy because southern leaders promised them freedom if the south won the war.
"They were promised a lot of things," Gov. Wilder explains. Judah P. Benjamin, Confederate secretary of state, in March 1865, promised freedom for blacks who served from Virginia. Similar offers of freedom had been made to slaves decades earlier. British Commanders first offered slaves freedom during the American Revolution if they fought for the British against the colonists.

Black historian and genealogist Roland Young told Williams he was not surprised some blacks joined the Confederate Army. 'Some, if not most, Black southerners would support their country and that by doing so were demonstrating it's possible to hate the system of slavery and love one's country," Young said. Southern white leaders also warned slaves to fear the Union Army so slaves could preserve what they had. Gov. Wilder provides a family history.
"My grandfather hid in a tobacco curing storage bin and almost suffocated to escape contact with Union Troops," Gov. Wilder says.

Although it was presumed many black men who were Confederate soldiers were slaves that is not necessarily the case, Jack Maples, a Libertarian, who has written about black Confederate soldiers, including the novel Reconstructed Yankee. Free men of color, many of them skilled tradesmen, fought on the side of the Confederacy, he says. Maples agrees with Gov. Wilder's assessment black men feared they would lose what they had gained if the south lost the Civil War. "Free men of color would see a Confederate loss as a threat to their tenuous position they held in southern society as freemen versus slaves," Maples wrote The NorthStar News & Analysis in an e-mail. "Finally, there would be the natural, and all too human reason to support and protect the only home they knew."

In one instance, black Confederate troops proved their loyalty to the confederacy by riding with Gen. Forrest, a former slave trader. The Union Army accused Forrest of war crimes after the Battle of Fort Pillow in which troops under his command massacred hundreds of black soldiers who attempted to surrender. Fort Pillow was located in Henning, Tenn., on the Mississippi River. Forrest later became Grand Dragon of the Klu Klux Klan, a white terrorist organization founded by Democrats in 1866 in Pulaski, Tenn. Forrest's relationship with blacks was complicated, Maples explains.

"At the beginning of the war, Forrest went to a number of his slaves with an offer. If they fought with him for the duration of the war, he would free them," Maples says. "All 42 remained with Forrest through the end of the war and none swore an oath of loyalty. Also, by the time the war ended, there were 65 Free Men of Color ridiing with Forrest, all of whom were at Fort Pillow." In 1875, Jubilee of Pole-Bearers, a southern black organization, invited Forrest to speak. During his address, Forrest espoused equality and harmony between blacks and whites, Maples says.

Although blacks fought on the side of Confederates, their role is largely unknown except to historians. Historian Erwin Jordan, author of Black Confederates and Afro-Yankees In Civil War Virginia, said in Williams' paper, black confederate soldiers' role in the Civil War has been covered up since 1865. "During my research, I came across instances where black men stated they were soldiers, but you can plainly see where 'soldier' is crossed out and 'body servant' inserted or 'teamster' on pension applications," Jordan said.

Leonard Haynes, formerly a professor at Southern University, was also incredulous about the scant attention paid to black Confederate soldiers. "When you eliminate the black Confederate soldier, you've eliminated the history of the south," said Dr. Hayes, who at one time was executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

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Justice Stevens' Retirement Gives President Obama Another U.S. Supreme Court Appointment

Associate United States Supreme Court Associate Justice announced retirement gives President Barack Obama a second opportunity to name someone to the nation's highest court.

Justice Stevens, 90, announced his retirement Friday, April 9. President Gerald Ford in 1975 named Stevens to the U.S. Supreme Court.

President Obama praised Stevens' tenure. "He applied the Constitution and laws of the land with fidelity and restraint .... His leadership will be sorely missed, and I just had the opportunity to speak with him and told him on behalf of a grateful nation, that I thanked him for his service," said the president.

President Obama said he will seek a person with Stevens' qualities as his replacement, which includes an independent mind, a record of excellence and integrity, fierce dedication to the rule of law and a keen understanding of how the law affects the daily lives of the American people.

In May 2009, President Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayer as an associate justice to the U.S. Supreme Court, making the 54-year-old Sotomayer the first Hispanic woman to serve on the court.

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Southern Culture Magazine Honors Morgan Freeman

Oxford American recently honored Academy Award winning actor Morgan Freeman for his contributions to southern culture.

Oxford American, a southern literary magazine housed on the grounds of University of Central Arkansas, honored Freeman April 3 during the publication's initial fund-raising event in Little Rock, Ark. The University of Central Arkansas is in Conway. Academy Award winning actress Mary Steenburgen, an Arkansas native, hosted the event.

Freeman was born in Memphia, Tenn., but raised in Charleston, Miss., where he owns the Ground Zero Blues Club and Madidi, a restaurant.

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences awarded Freeman the best-supporting actor Oscar for the 2005 movie "Million Dollar Baby." The academy has nominated him for four other films, including "The Shawshank Redemption," one of the most-popular films of all time.

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