Apparently a number of my recent posts about Confederate History Month are making the rounds among members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. This happens every once in a while and I end up having to deal with a sharp increase in silly comments and other personal insults. For the most part I am receiving [...]
Memory
but probably not in the way that the Sons of Confederate Veterans intended. Today members of the Virginia Assembly in Richmond wore arm bands to commemorate the sacrifices of Virginia’s slaves. From the Virginia Politics Blog: The move was prompted by McDonnell’s proclamation declaring April Confederate History Month. When first issued, the proclamation did not [...]
Update: Robert Moore deconstructs the SCV’s proclamation in Rockingham County and Brooks Simpson offers his own response at Civil Warriors. It looks like the Col. D.H. Lee Martz Camp #10-Sons of Confederate Veterans is not going to allow Gov. Bob McDonnell’s amendment to his Confederate History Month proclamation stop them from grossly distorting the past. [...]
I may be speaking too soon, but it looks like the influence of the Sons of Confederate Veterans on how we remember the Civil War will be minimal as we make our way through the Civil War Sesquicentennial. Today we learn that plans to place a monument to South Carolina’s decision to leave the Union [...]
How about a book deal with Westholme Publishing. That’s right, today I was approached by a representative who wanted to know if I might be interested in writing a book about “black Confederates” and historical memory. We’re talking 80,000 words (roughly 350 pages) on the role of black Southerners in the Confederate army and a [...]
If the commemoration of the Civil War Sesquicentennial here in Virginia were to follow the outline of Governor McDonnell’s Confederate History Month proclamation, it would look and sound like this. [Song by the group, General Lee and the New Confederacy]
There is an interesting article over at Psychology Today, if only because it takes a different perspective on the controversy surrounding Confederate History Month. Molly Costelloe Fong suggests that Governor McDonnell’s proclamation may have certain psychological effects within the black community owing to the long-term legacy of slavery: When one group deliberately inflicts suffering on [...]
Brooks Simpson came across the Virginia SCV’s response to Gov. McDonnell’s Confederate History Month proclamation today while teaching his course on research methods. I recommend that you read the entire post, but here is the SCV’s proclamation for your consideration. Brooks has already pointed out the false claim that Ulysses S. Grant and his wife [...]
