I want to thank representative gerald connollys office for aranging the room, the 11th district of virginia for electing representative mcconnolly since hes been generous enough to be doing this and i want to thank the History Center for doing are had the work. The national History Center offers these briefings because everything has a history and when some of those everythings are within the realm of public policy, then its our obligation as historians to provide the Historical Context essential to inform, debate and decision making. That obligation forms the sole position in these briefings. Were not here to convince anybody of any particular legislation. Were here because understanding the implications of change and hence shaping its direction requires understanding it changes that have brought us to this juncture in the first place. And weve discussed in these meeting rooms the histories of immigration, Civil Military relations, executive orders, social security, commerce in outer space and numerous other topics. Next briefing i will slow down is november 13th, which is on the history of automation and job loss, which also has a history. Today well be talking about monuments, specifically those erected to honor individuals who serve the Confederate States of america during the civil war as government officials or in the military. I wouldnt be surprised if it it gets stretched a little bit. Our panel comprises three distinguished historians who have written extensively about various aspects of the construction of monuments and memorials and their histories. I am had not going to go into introductions. Those of you who did not pick this up outside, which is a set of bios, there are copies right over by the coffee. They are there for strategic reasons so that if you even if you do have this, you can pretend you need one so that you can go get yourself a cup of coffee. So feel free to get up and get it program so that you know who everybody is. So we will speak in the following order. Our first speaker will be professor foster from Louisiana State university. Our second speaker will be professor karen cox from the university of North Carolina at charlotte and third professor bliet from yale. We did not plan this so that the yankee goes last. These are random choices. I want to thank the national History Center and add my welcome to jims. I will warn you im a college professor, i have a 50minute mind so this may not work. I think thats the last joke. So walt i want to do eventually is give you an over view and placement of design of the Confederate Monuments in the south over the course of history and try to explain at the speak of construction what their goals are. But to understand that you have to begin with the confederacy itself. The Southern States seseeded and formed the Confederate States of america and fought four long years to create a independent republic. And thats where all the discussion of Confederate Monuments begins. Again i have time issues so when i teach my Introductory Survey in 1865, i frequently get behind and find myself with three minutes to cover the civil war. So i tell my Louisiana Students the north won, the south lost, get over it. And that is somewhat app for understanding the white south in 1865. They knew it north won. They knew their goal of independence was gone and they commit to rejoining the nation. They know that meant slavery ended and they accept that. They also realize the south had lost. Ta were very concerned over what defeat meant for them both personally as a society. In other words theyre worried about in a culture of honor what losing the war said about their manhood, their honor and about their relationship with the rest of the country and they worried a great deal about that. But they did not get over it. The south comes out of the war totally committed to the perpetuation of white supremacy. They know slaverys gone, but they have to figure out new ways. They also come out convinced that they were right. In other words they do not rethink their commitment to slavery. They still see slavery as a Good Institution in their minds and indeed will work very hard to roam ant size slavery. They are also convinced that they were right. They very quickly deemphasize, if not deny the influence of slavery in the war and they see their actions as a just legal susession under the constitution and begin to redefine the war in terms of states rights, seeing southerners as having fought for State Government and having fought for hearth and home. Out of that determination to prove themselves right grows a Movement Towards the lost cause which has incredible cultural power that will become incred aably influential in the south. And the movement to erect monuments emerges out of that lost cause movement. The vast amount will go up between the war and about 1920 but i would see it as important to see that as a twophased process. Between 1867 and the turn of the century the majority of Confederate Monuments, almost over 70 go up in cemeteries and of those probably over 60, coming close to 70 of them feature not the confederate soldier youre used to but some sort of design, often if you looked add it you would be hard pressed to tell if it was a Confederate Monument or not flp are relatively few put up to confederate leaders. Theres a standing statue of stone wall jackson in richmond, at Memorial Chapel at robert e. Lee university which is supposed to be lee asleep. He looks dead to me. By the 1890s that begins to change. At wnl in 1874 lee is lying down. 10 years later in new orleans lee is standing up. Six years later in 1890 lee is back on his horse looking quite majestic. And that is very symbolic of a change that after 1900 and during it 1880s and 90s you begin to shift from what the first stage been, memorialization and mourning to a process of celebration. Now again that follows the 1890s when at least three things have happened. Youve had a period of political unrest challenging the aristocratic rule, a tremendous period of racial tension as they look to establish themselves and the spanishamerican war which symbolizes for many people the souths reunification with the union and so the Confederate Monument movement that starts out as mimorialization becomes one of celebration. And so between 1900 and 1920 when the vast majority go up, over 80 go up in central places in town or county court houses. Over 70 are of confederate soldiers. A few are looking out in the distance, a few with their rifle at what i describe as a sort of lackadaisical port of arms. The vast majority are the statues youre most familiar with which is a confederate soldier with the but of his rifle on the grounds and i would argue looking anything but military. The other factor that changes is this is the time when you begin to establish more and more statues to confederate leaders and they go up primary to lee who has become, even by the end of the war, a sort of symbol of confederate nationalism and up to davis who is both the political leader of the confederacy and the architect of the confederate defense and its fight for state rights. I would argue in this period the monuments are serving three interrelated purposes. First, they do honor the veterans. They acknowledge their service and sacrifice. Theyre in part a more profound, more permanent version of what today is the offhand thank you for your service. But they also honor the military ability, the manhood and the justness of the confederate soldiers fight. And thats ties into the second purpose of these monuments, which is to vindicate the surngt cause. In other words not just to honor the veterans but their cause. To make the argument that the south had believed all along that their cause was just, constitutional, right and worthy of being celebrated. And the third function the monuments said to me and that is they go up in part to perpetuate a vision of a social and racial order that will remain fixed for much of the next century. In other words you have these aristocratic statues to people likely and the common man at ease in the individual confederate soldier and that symbolizes what is a larger theme which is part of what were celebrating is a conservative social order in which the lower class defers aristocratic leadership, women are loyal to their men and African Americans are deferential and subserveiant to whites. And so its those three interrelated functions that they move. I would argue theyre less artifacts of history and more projects of memory. And they honor the veterans but at the same time they serve to vindicate the cause and support the perpetuation of a fixed social and racial order. Thank you. [ applause ] you werent 50 minutes. Daunting. I was scared of you. It was so good and so polished and im going to have to read. I might get these other glasses. Sure. This is what happens when you get older. Let me know what else you need. Youll hear me reiterate a few things that gains said but im going to give credit where its due to it women of the south, the white women of the south. I would disagree a little bit on the time line of celebration and vindication but i thought the celebration began earlier than the 20th century and became about vindication in the 20th century, to me. So 30 years after the confederate south they entered a period of memorialization and monument building began in earnest in the mid1890s which was a decade mar marked by the disenfranchisement of black men to say nothing of the epidemic of lynching that took African American lives and one may not see those two as related. But by publicly eliminating black men t opened the door for southern white women to inhadter the public arena like never before and usually through the united daughters of the confederacy or the daughters. The leading organization of southern white women over the next several decades. The udc, which became an army of 100,000 women by the First World War is the organization primarily responsible for the hundreds of monuments felt in the south and beyond. Their efforts began as soon as the smoke of canon fire cleared. They formed soldier cemeteries inhadicide of which the first monuments were built. After reconstruction they joined camps of confederate veterans and began raising money for monuments ifcluding of lee in 1890. However, it was in the mid1890s when had women truly rose to prominence, this movement that is seeped in mythology that ignored defeat while casting the southern cause as both just and honorable. The daughters heightened visibility during this decade extepded to the 20th century, as did their agenda to honor the confederacy and yes, perpetuate the principals of white supremacy. That agenda was critical to shaping the south for the next se century. The women were motivated. They sought to vindicate them as well. While funding monuments and memorials and lobbying for their placement was a critical aspect of their work it was part of a much broader agendau that looked forward to the future as much as it cumemerated the past since they stut insure that coming generations of white southerners not only held up their ancestors as heroes but themselves would become defenders of the same principals for which their relatives died. And they did that through a multipronged approach. In addition to raising the money to build the hundreds of monuments and memorials that dot the southern and national landscape, the objectives if hadcluded preserving and perpetuating the true history, as they understood it, of slavery, the confederate cause and reconstruction. They lobbied state legislatures for pensions. They expanded their influence by epihadding teachers design lesson plans, they monitored textbooks, placed battle flags in their classrooms and formed groups of children of the confederacy. They offered a robust effort of the lost cause that in many ways is still with us today. Of course the most tangible reminders of their influence are the monuments they erected in cemeteries and town squares, on National Battle fields, in Arlington National cemetery and even the United States capitol. The equivalent of millions of dollars in todays currency was spent on this endeavor. Some of which came from government expenditures. And it involved an alliance between elected officials and the udc that majority of these monuments were built some 30 to 50 years after the civil war and so many were placed on sites where all citizens conduct business with their government, loe local, state and national. It indicates they were not simply works of public art or about honoring the dead. They had a larger purpose and how do we know that . First of all we all should be reminded that monuments are supported by a narrative. The world war ii narrative on the mall represents that they were part of the greatest generation. The second thing is that monuments are off an reflection of the generation that placed them there. That same memorial was an effort by more recent generations to pay homage to those veterans and honor them for their service in defense of democracy. Like wise southern monuments were supported by a narrative that confederate veterans fought nobly and defeat did not erase the justness of their cause. These monuments were a reflection of beliefs held by the jim crow generation, whites who regarded them as second class citizens and believed in maintaining a racial status quo and if there were any doubts in the larger meaning and purpose of their monuments, the daughters made it clear in speeches they gave and they chose men to give speeches at these monument unveilings who reit raerated that message, not only of honor and sacrifice. There was another message that these soldiers and those who with stood reconstruction were to be honored as defenders of anglosaxon supremacy. Thus in the very years that states were asked to select individuals to be honored in National Stat ware hall and the u. S. Capitol, it is no surprise that the south very much assisted by the daughters, chose men who reflected the values of white supremacy. In mississippi, of course there was jeff davis. But they also slekted senator james george wdrafted a plan in 1890 copied to exclude blacks from politics by instituting literacy and understanding clauses. Its probably not coincidence his own daughter, lizzy George Henderson who was his secretary rose to prominence as it president general of the united daughters of the confederacy. Like wise georgia chose Alexander Stevens, the Vice President of the confederacy who famously authored the corner stone speech that was explicit in stating that the corner stone of the confederate government was quote founded on the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man, that slavery subordination to the superior race is a natural and normal condition. To sums are the united daughters of the confederacy led an effort to cement culturally what Southern State legislatures enshrined into law. This alliance was one about preserving the racial status quo. So Confederate Monuments regardless of their artistic significance, regardless of the skill of the artist were intentional symbols, intentionally placed and were regarded as abject lessons for the future generations. Thank you. [ applause ] thank you, jimp, thank you to the History Center and thank you for coming on a monday morning. This is even early to teach. My colleagues have brilliantly laid out the contours of the lost cause as a tradition, as a set of ideas. I want to throw you right into an example. Thomas nelson page was one of the most popular and wide selling authors in the United States in the 1890s. Page, a virginiaborn writer, famous primarily for writing faithful slave stories or darky stories. Became fabulously popular, particularly in the north. Most of his readership was in the north, which is important to understand about what happened to lost cause ideology. Entitled the gray jacket of number four. Its the title. Page captured just about every sentiment in the pathos of the lost cause in this passage. Hes describing a veterans parade a confederate parade in the southern town. Quote men wept, children shrilled, women sobbed allowed, what was it . Only a thousand or two of old and aging men writing or tramping along through the dust of the street. Under some old flags dirty and ragged and stained but they represented the speared of the south, they represented the spirit that when honor was in question never counted the cost, it speert which stood up against overwhelming odds, the spirit that is the strongest guarantee to us today what the union is and is to be. The spirit, glorious in victory, yet greater in defeat. Greater in defeat. A lost cause is an ancient story. Theres lost causes all riddled throughout history. There are a lot of lost causes but often, lets face it, culturally, in literary terms defeat is more interesting than victory. Loss gives us great literature, why are so many of americas greatest writers from the south . Black and white. The reason he has the american imagination was because it was quote glorify bide disaster. He was a carpet bagger judge and so forth. And gains signalled this and so did karen does undergo change. Monuments undergo change, ideologies do, and lost causes do. By turn of the century, its hap ang bit earlier but the lost cause by the turn of the century in this real monument building era was no longer really about loss. It was about victory. The victory in many ways celebrated in so many Confederate Monuments was the victory over reconstruction. The south had had defeated reconstruction. It had won that victory. They won the victory over racial requality, over black suffrage. Won the victory over yankee rule and all that reconstruction had come to mean in this version of