With the official end of summer upon us I decided to go back and list in chronological order all of the posts I have written about the ongoing debate about Confederate iconography going back to June. I’ve been reviewing much of what I have written in preparation for a panel discussion that I will join in just a couple of weeks at the annual meeting of the American Association for State and Local History in Louisville. Participants include Bob Beatty, Dina Bailey, Steve Murray, W. Todd Groce and Eric Emerson. It promises to be an engaging discussion.
The other reason for going back is to try to make sense of what I’ve said and to see what threads, if any, can be discerned throughout. This brings me to an important point about blogging. Individual posts are very much time sensitive. They are opportunities to try out ideas and to see where things go. I’ve been pushed in different directions over the summer in response to various developments, many of which took me by surprise. In other words, you should expect that my thinking is going to evolve over time. Blogging is much more jazz improvisation than a carefully composed concerto.
Listing posts in chronological order will hopefully give you a better sense of where I started out and where I am in regard to many of these issues today.
- It Happened On Calhoun Street, June 18
- The Confederate Flag’s Heritage of Hate, June 20
- Nikki Haley and Lindsay Graham Call For Removal of Confederate Flag, June 22
- Black Confederates to the Rescue … Again, June 24
- Southern Cities Should Look To Richmond, June 24
- Why It Is Still Wrong to Vandalize Confederate Monuments, June 25
- Removal of Confederate Flags Marks the End of the Civil War Sesquicentennial, June 26
- The ‘Cornerstone’ of the Confederate Flag, June 26
- About That Confederate Ancestor of Yours, June 27
- Gettysburg’s Lutheran Seminary Takes Courageous Stand on Confederate Flag, June 28
- Historians Help a Nation Understand Charleston and Civil War Memory, June 28
- The United Daughters of the Confederacy’s Curious Silence on the Confederate Flag Debate, June 30
- “The White Man’s Flag,” July 1
- When a Monument to John C. Calhoun Was Torn Down, July 2
- Shouting ‘Heritage, Not Hate’ in the Streets of Prague, July 14
- Why Threading the Needle Between Soldier and Cause is Doomed to Fail, July 18
- Confederate Iconography and the “Dream” of White America, July 20
- Confederate Heritage Has Its Day at Stone Mountain, August 1
- National Park Service Needs a Stricter Confederate Flag Policy, August 2
- They Preserved the “Anglo-Saxon Civilization” of the South, August 4
- Civil War Memory and the “Anglo-Saxon Civilization” of the New South, August 5
- Why Even Now It’s Still Wrong to Vandalize Confederate Monuments, August 5
- Do Confederate Flags Belong in the Classroom?, August 7
- The Confederacy Was Not a Con Job, August 10
- Jefferson Davis Goes, While Robert E. Lee and Joseph Johnston Stay, August 13
- The Challenge of Contextualizing Confederate Monuments, August 14
- Confederate Flags are Gone With the Wind, August 16
- Timothy Tyson on North Carolina’s Confederate Legacy, August 16
- Visualizing Confederate Flag Rallies, August 18
- Sons of Confederate Veterans Kicked Out of Lee Chapel, August 19
- Portrait of J.E.B. Stuart Removed From Virginia Courtroom, September 2
And there you have it. I should also point out that the comments sections following many of these posts are well worth your attention and I thank each of you for taking the time to share your thoughts with me.
One final reminder. Every year individual posts on this site end up as assigned readings in various college and high school classes. This year is no different and in the case of two schools I am already scheduled to Skype with students to field questions and continue the discussion. As long as my schedule permits it I am happy to talk with your students via Skype. Contact me here for further details.
I think it will be a remarkable session. I wish I could be there, but end of fiscal year games will keep me secured close to my desk.