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A student-led group project from HIST 246
 

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Kat and walked to the statue on Sunday to obtain footage of the monument and its surroundings and also to take some pictures. We decided that our video was too shaky to be of any use so we walked back on Wednesday morning with a tripod. Hopefully we got what we needed!! (Kat has the footage, so I haven’t seen it.) We will soon meet again to produce a storyboard and to begin putting the video together.

I think it is very hard to answer the question of whether or not it is possible for southerners to commemorate the war and their heroes without offending blacks. However, I do think that the first step is to make sure that facts are accurate and to acknowledge what happened in the reality. The “Catechism” that the Children of the Confederacy receive is riddled with inaccuracies and it paints a picture of slavery that no former slave would agree with. This document that children have to learn claims that slaves were “faithful and devoted and were always ready and willing to serve” their masters (37). The fact that they are twisting the facts to make something as terrible as slavery seem better to support their cause is extremely offensive to the black community. When Mercy lectured in class we talked about these children as “living monuments” and how these were the most effective because they carried on their version of history better than any statue could. This is quite sad because the children will grow to accept these “facts” and continue offending those whose families were enslaved.

While I think that it is important to teach children about their ancestors, it is when people go overboard that things become distorted. The people of Salisbury have become so obsessed with the Civil War through the practice of tracking down their ancestors. In an effort to understand what these men went through they have lost themselves in an idealized world that might not have even existed. Mike Hawkins says he prefers to read his books than to live his life at present. He claims that to him life back then seems “like it was bigger somehow” (30). He thinks that after the war the South has been reduced to a lesser version of what it used to be. The Curtsies are an even more extreme example because they have all but lost themselves in the war. Their whole life revolves around the remembrance and commemoration of the great heroes and has never even taken a trip that is not related to the war in some way (32). While this might not seem offensive in any way the reality is that they take their personal views on the war and they impart them on the town. Sue Curtis was the one responsible for “reactivation” of the Children of the Confederacy chapter in their town and the children are receiving skewed views about the war that they will later share with other people.

I do think that Southerners should be allowed to commemorate their heroes like Lee who has become the “most important figure in postwar imagination” (Brown 79) but they need to acknowledge all aspects of his life. It is commendable that he was unwilling to draw a sword against Virginia
(Brown 94) and that he was a capable commander that the troops were willing to follow. The problem appears when organizations like the Sons of Confederate Veterans when reciting a history emphasize only the favorable and not acknowledge that he like many other generals lost some battles (24). I believe that the best way to commemorate the Southern cause and point of view in the Civil War without offending anybody is to make sure that all the statements are as accurate as possible. In this way, the good exalted and emphasized, but the bad is not hidden.

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