This week, Adam and I have been working to make final updates to the script so that we can start recording as soon as possible. This has required me going back through some of my sources and answering the questions that Dr. McDaniel left for us on our writeboard. I am happy to say that we have a new and improved draft published on the writeboard, and as soon as we get the okay from Dr. McDaniel, we plan on beginning our recording–hopefully by Monday at the latest.

In the Horwitz chapter, he writes of Salisbury, North Carolina:

“I recognized the appeal of dwelling on the South’s past rather than its present. Stepping from my room into the motel parking lot, I gazed out at a low-slung horseshoe of ferroconcrete called Towne Mall, a metal-and-cement forest of humming electricity pylons, a Kmart, a garish yellow Waffle House…A few exhaust-choked bushes poked from the greasy asphalt.” (Horwitz 27)

Horwitz’s interpretation of his time in Salisbury is that given the choice between dwelling on the South’s present—poverty, dead-end jobs, dying industry, chain fast-food restaurants, and a poor education system—and dwelling on the South’s past—moonlight and magnolias, economic prowess, and the plantation system—who would possibly choose to dwell on the present? So southerners, at least according to Horwitz, have clung to the past as a way to have something that is worthy of the deep pride that fills the South. They have made the Civil War a glorious lost cause, and effectively indict Reconstruction and the North for the problems that face the South today. This removes collective responsibility for the war, and allows southerners to be proud of their heritage.

In my home state of Virginia, that pride is expressed through a love of Robert E. Lee, a love so strong that to this day, I would argue that there are few, if any, public schools in the state of Virginia that give an objective history of Lee’s life. Brown writes “By far the most important figure in postwar imagination of the Confederacy has been General Robert E. Lee,” and it is indeed Lee’s personal love for the Union but greater love for Virginia that has allowed Virginians to argue that the Civil War was fought for love of southern homeland rather than over slavery (Brown 79).

It is thus, perhaps understandable that the South views the Civil War in the light that it does, however, this is not history, nor is it grounded in reality, and viewing the war in such a light does nothing to help move the South into the future. Regardless of why Lee chose to join the Confederacy, regardless of why southern yeoman farmers chose to fight for the South, and regardless of what might have happened had the South lost, the fact remains that the Civil War can be traced back to slavery. We have read about this reality this semester in Manning and although many of us struggled with Kornblith’s article, he too showed the importance of slavery in the coming of the Civil War. These authors are not alone, and many other historians have shown time and again that the true root of the Civil War was slavery, plain and simple. The southerners who we have learned about in Horwitz’s article, the members of Confederate Heritage groups who have argued for the existence of Black Confederates, and the many people throughout the South who have argued that slavery was not the focus of the war are missing the historical truth in an effort to take pride in southern heritage. This southern heritage that has been idealized is a beautiful image that manages to ignore the millions of African-Americans who were held in bondage with their basic human rights ignored. The legacy of slavery and the tragic segregation that followed continue to affect American race relations and the lives of millions of African-Americans in this country. To celebrate the “Old South,” to salute and pledge allegiance to the Confederate flag is to wish for a time in which millions of African-Americans were enslaved. As Michael King told Horwitz, “The way I see it, your great-grandfather fought and died because he believed my great-grandfather should stay a slave. I’m supposed to feel all warm inside about that?” (Horwitz 44). You cannot have the antebellum South without slavery, and you cannot long for the “lost cause” without accepting that had the Confederacy won the war, slavery would have continued.

With that being said, as we are 150 years past the start of the Civil War. I do believe that the Civil War should be remembered. It remains one of the most crucial parts of the story of America, and understanding our past is integral to making our future better and stronger. Also, as a history major, I obviously feel strongly that the past should be studied and truly remembered, even if only for knowledge’s sake. Yet perhaps the war should be viewed as the Minneapolis Tribune viewed Robert E. Lee when his monument was dedicated, “He [Lee] was solemnly sworn to the defense of the Government. At the time when his services were most needed he deserted his post and took up arms against his country…He made a fatal mistake, and it is not likely to be condoned,” (Brown 97). Ultimately, Robert E. Lee may not have believed in slavery, and not all southerners who fought for the Confederacy owned slaves or believed slavery was right. But we have two options: either Confederates fought fervently to keep African-Americans in bondage, or in spite of the fact that they did NOT believe in slavery, southerners were willing to give up this principle and fight for the South—either way, I don’t believe that theirs is a cause worth celebrating.

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