The Lost Cause Myth
Where did the term "Lost Cause" originate?
Edward Pollard’s 1866 book, The Lost Cause (AASLH & NCPH "The Lost Cause Myth")
Approximately How many memorials valorize confederacy in the U.S.? (Whose Heritage?)
More than 2000, according to “Whose Heritage?”
This 2005 monument at UNC-Chapel Hill features miniature bronze figures supporting a granite table, honoring the enslaved and free Black laborers who built the university.
The Unsung Founders Memorial
This is a kind of space constructed to privilege heritage and historical narratives that pro-mote white solidarity through appeals to white supremacy
White Public Heritage Space
This statue was toppled in Durham, NC in 2017?
A nameless confederate soldier - the “silent sentinel”
This organization is regarded as the chief propagators of the Lost Cause Myth:
United Daughters of the Confederacy (AASLH & NCPH “The Lost Cause Myth”)
True or False: Can confederate monuments be found outside of the confederate states?
Yes. SPLC has found 102 existing in border states, 30 in states not yet admitted to the union at the time of the civil war, 44 in union states and DC, and 1 in Puerto Rico.
This North Carolina memorial project incorporates an auction block, weeping wall, and amphitheater to encourage dialogue on slavery and freedom.
North Carolina Freedom Monument Project
This is the name of a woman who is one of the first documented African Americans in Virginia AND it is the namesake of an archeology site project which started in 2017.
Angela
This man was the largest donor brining the “Silent Sam” confederate monument to UNC’s campus? He is also the namesake of the Duke History Department.
Julian Carr
Name a historic claim of the Lost Cause
4 possible answers:
-Cause of Secession: It asserted that cultural and constitutional differences, not slavery, caused secession. It portrayed slavery as a benevolent institution.
-Confederate Military Prowess: It claimed Confederate armies were defeated by overwhelming Union resources, not poor leadership or battlefield losses. Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson, and Robert E. Lee were revered.
-Confederate Women: They were idealized as symbols of wartime sacrifice and gender conformity.
-Reconstruction Era: It argued that Reconstruction was a vindictive imposition of racial equality, and the Klan's violence was a heroic redemption.
In the Buhler article, How are Alois Riegl’s monument values applied in the assessment of confederate statuary?
(Buhler 560-561)
-Age Value: Monuments valued for their antiquity, generally not applicable to relatively recent Confederate or Soviet monuments.
-Historical Value: Monuments preserved as part of the historical record, with arguments for preservation often based on this value.
-Deliberate Commemorative Value: Monuments whose symbolic values still resonate, often the focus of controversy and calls for removal.
Surveys at the Wornall/Majors House Museums revealed that this group made up the majority of visitors, expressing interest in local history, the Civil War, and original owners.
Who are white females from the Kansas City metropolitan area
What is significant about the Angela Project?
-This project aims to decolonize archaeology practices.
-The project provides a rare glimpse into the daily lives of African Americans at Jamestown, a long neglected and erased aspect of this history
-Prioritization of African agency in historic narratives rather than Eurocentric narratives
-The project is providing opportunities for African American involvement in re-shaping the narratives of a site that has long been regarded as a White Public Heritage Space
What do Pauli Murray, Charles “Chuck” Rudolph Davis, Floyd McKissick, Sr., Ann Atwater and C.P. Ellis, tobacco workers, Native Americans, enslaved people, and LGBTQ leaders have in common?
figures recommended for memorialization by the Durham City-County Committee on Confederate Monuments and Memorials
How has the lost cause contributed to racial ideology and violence?
-accepted lynching as a necessary evil to stem the alleged tide of black assaults on white women
-celebrated and promoted black men and women who acted the parts of loyal and submissive servants.
-It perpetuated the narrative of white competency and black incompetence, justifying Jim Crow segregation
What can recontextualizing a monument do to its meaning (i.e. taking a confederate monument away from its original location and putting it into a museum)?
-The recontextualized display of memorials not only preserves them for their historical value, but actually allows the viewer to understand their historical significance in a much truer way than if they had been allowed to remain in their original locations (Buhler 566)
-”monuments’ historical value be preserved while still being able to disavow the lost cause ideology attached to their commemorative value” (Buhler 567)
Despite strong visitor support for discussing slavery, surveys at the Wornall/Majors House Museums showed that this topic was often ranked as the least emphasized on tours.
Slavery
What is a descendent community and why is it important to include them at Historic sites?
-A group of people whose ancestors were enslaved at a heritage site
-When descendent communities are included in historic sites, the stories and experiences of enslaved people can be heard through the voices of these descendents -and- these sites have been able to transform white public heritage spaces into more inclusive sites that reflect American history in a spirit of restorative justice and shared understanding
What restricts the removal of confederate statues locally?
In 2015, in part as a reaction to tensions around Confederate symbols, the North Carolina State legislature passed a law restricting what local governments’ power to modify or remove “objects of public remembrance,”
G.S. § 100-2.1 defines the term “object of remembrance” to mean “a monument, memorial, plaque, statue, marker, or display of a permanent character that commemorates an event, a person, or military service that is part of North Carolina’s history.” (DC-CCoCMaM 17)
Name a way in which museums and historic sites can avoid the Lost Cause
Few Possible answers:
-Avoid using biased language like "yankee" or "carpetbaggers” or “redeemers”
-Ensure that the physical appearance and programming of museums do not perpetuate Lost Cause narratives - through “picturesque columned plantation houses,” hanging confederate banners or selling confederate gift shop items
-The Reconstruction era should be “relentlessly interpreted”
-Avoid romanticizing southern pain or plantation life
-Plantation historic sites should prioritize/foreground the lives of enslaved people.
-”incorporate artistic expressions of suffering and moments for memorialization that are usually lacking at museums and sites”
-Staff Training: Support staff with training to handle visitors' emotional reactions to historical interpretation.
Who established the Confederate Museum and why? What are some consequences of this? (Hillyer)
The Confederate Memorial Literary Society established the museum in order to:
-preserve Confederate history and values.
-criticize northern commercialism
-promote the lost cause narrative through the depiction of slavery as a benevolent institution or divert focus on the military valor and sacrifice, reinforce confederate unity/nationalism
-legitimize jim crow, racial hierarchy
Why is slavery so challenging to reckon with at historic sites?
Few possible answers:
-Guilt/Embarassment
-Erasure
-Competing narratives/Divisive public opinions
-Stakeholder resistance
-Visitor expectations
-Artistic challenges
-Representation of Trauma
In what ways can the memory and presence of a group of people be intentionally erased from a heritage site?
-Organizations like the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiques and their biased exclusionary motives
-Archaeology bias
-Artifacts
-Preservation practices
-Legislation
How is Durham’s identity unique compared to other southern cities, as it applies to the debate about confederate monuments?
-Neither city or county existed during the Civil War
-Durham thrived after the Civil War due to tobacco and the railroad, attracting formerly enslaved people for work.
-Although Durham enforced the same violent segregation as other places, the African-American community found ways to prosper. After the Civil War, two black veterans who’d fought for the Union, brothers Richard and Robert Fitzgerald, moved south and contributed much to the city’s success.