Lost Cause Flashcards
(30 cards)
What are David Blight’s 3 competing visions of Civil War memory?
Reconciliationist, White Supremacist, Emancipationist
How does the Reconciliationist vision support Lost Cause longevity?
National unity was prioritised, thus the role of slavery was downplayed. Confederates had been noble in defeat, their valour was celebrated
How does the White Supremacist vision support Lost Cause longevity?
It offered a justification for maintaining a racial hierarchy
How does the Emancipationist vision support Lost Cause longevity?
Basis of Civil Rights movement, provided opposition to white supremacy. Further entrenches Lost Cause
Name three of Caroline Janney’s Lost Cause assertions
War not over slavery, South defeated due to Union resources, Confederate soldiers were heroic and saintly
How many people attended the unveiling of Robert E. Lee’s monument in Richmond (1890)
100,000
How did the Cornerstone Ceremony of 1887 outline proponents of the Lost Cause?
“a cause which it was an honour to fight and die for” and “the overthrow of slavery was an accident of war”
How did the UDC perpetuate the Lost Cause?
The adaptation of textbooks and spearheading the building of monuments
How did the South distance itself from the idea of ‘war guilt’?
By prioritising national unity and shaping the legacy of General Lee to that of a national hero not a fighter for slavery
How does Adam Domby support the White Supremacist narrative?
Domby argues that “the heroic narrative of Confederate soldiers was used to justify white political control and unite Southern whites behind the Democrats in 1900”
Which North Carolina governor argued that whites had earned the right to rule the South?
Charles Aycock
What is a modern day example of the White Supremacist narrative?
2017 protest to the removal of a General Lee statue in Charlottesville
What is an example of white supremacy translating directly to Southern life?
Jim Crow laws / segregation
Which film was shown in the White House in 1915 demonstrating how mainstream white supremacy had become?
Birth of a Nation
What year was a portrait of General Lee unveiled at West Point Military Academy?
1952
What does Robert Cook say is notable about Civil War centennial celebrations?
Civil Rights opposition provoked a defence of the racial hierarchy. White Supremacism fueled by Civil Rights attacks.
What is significant about the centennial celebrations for the overall argument?
Demonstrates Lost Cause provoked into action by resistance. Longevity because of ‘anti black rather than pro white?’
Who called the reaction to Lee’s death a ‘bombastic laudation’ of a ‘rebel chief’?
Frederick Douglass
How did the AA newspaper the Richmond Planet report on Lee’s unveiling ceremony in 1890?
It “serves to retard progress in the country and forges heavier chains with which to be bound”
What did W.E.B. Du Bois write about Robert E. Lee in 1928?
He had led a ‘bloody war to perpetuate slavery’
What did Du Bois say about the South’s war aims?
“The South only cared about State’s Rights as a weapon to defend slavery”
When was the Robert E. Lee statue in Richmond taken down?
September 2021
What is an example of resistance to white supremacy in the modern day?
The Black Lives Matter movement and campaigns to take down Confederate statues
Why is the Emancipationist vision so important?
It has provided sustained attacks on the Lost Cause narrative, challenging those who believe in the Lost Cause to entrench their beliefs (creating longevity)
