The group Historians for a Better Future has come up with an interesting approach to adding context to North Carolina’s Confederate monument to women in Raleigh. Their banners feature quotes from historians, including Lonnie Bunch III, Karen Cox, Eric Foner, and Manisha Sinha.
The banners also resemble those carried by women campaigning for the right to vote in front of the White House during WWI. You can follow the organization at their Facebook page.
Of course, the carrying of “Confederate Flags” by self-professed white-rights groups and individuals, and similar confrontations, have produced predictable reactions.
But, if we are going to do more that have immediacy responses, let’s dig a bit deeper,
What were the publicly expressed reasons for the memorials?
What did letters and other sources say at the times of the memorials?
Has anyone looked at the Union memorials?
Every historian featured in those banners had done just that. I would start there.