Lost Cause

No, That’s Not H.K. in the Background

by Kevin Levin on May 15, 2013 · 39 comments · Follow me on

in Civil War Culture, Lost Cause, Memory

I apologize for not being able to offer a more appropriate post title, but I am not sure what this is. Perhaps you can tell me.

I do enjoy perusing the Confederate Heritage Facebook pages.  The topic of black Confederates is a favorite among these folks. Many of the images and other references are new to me, but more importantly their handling of this “evidence” serves as a reminder of just how incapable some people are in applying even the most [...]

Today Cleveland.com [associated with the Cleveland Plain Dealer] is running a textbook example of how the myth of the Black Confederate soldier is spread.  Start off with what appears to be an unusual story of two black individuals who play Confederate soldiers.  Treat them as authorities in the relevant history and fail to do any [...]

Our Confederate Dead

by Kevin Levin on April 22, 2013 · 2 comments · Follow me on

in Civil War Culture, Lost Cause, Soldiers

Update: Just received a private email stating that I am “incapable of feeling anything but hate for Confederate soldiers.” As always, thanks for taking the time to comment. This weekend I was in Petersburg, where I gave a talk to a group of educators as part of teachers conference sponsored by the Civil War Trust.  [...]

No Confederate License Plates in Texas

by Kevin Levin on April 15, 2013 · 1 comment · Follow me on

in Civil War Culture, Lost Cause, Memory

U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks ruled earlier today that the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles did not violate the First Amendment when it denied an application by the Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans for customized plates that depicted the Confederate flag.  Here are a few excerpts from the judge’s ruling. “The issue before the [...]

As we all know one of the most misunderstood aspects of the debate surrounding the existence of black Confederate soldiers is the existence of pensions that were given by former Confederate states to qualified black citizens at various points during the postwar period.  For the uninformed or those working primarily from a narrow agenda the [...]

Brad Paisley Meet Leslie Barris

by Kevin Levin on April 10, 2013 · 23 comments · Follow me on

in Civil War Culture, Lost Cause, Memory

So, in addition to having trouble accessing my blog yesterday the news feed that I use to track stories related to Civil War memory is clogged with articles about the Brad Paisley – LL Cool J controversy.  I’m not sure which is worse.  I don’t have anything insightful to say about the song other than [...]

Stonewall Jackson’s Black Friend

by Kevin Levin on March 26, 2013 · 14 comments · Follow me on

in Civil War Historians, Lost Cause, Slavery

Update: Richard Williams has decided to respond to this post on his blog. What I find interesting is that he has nothing to say about the content of the post. Instead he takes issue with one of my comments about my characterization of his understanding of the influence of Nat Turner’s Rebellion on race/slavery and [...]

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