Southern Historical Narratives in Context...
Hidden Realities...
There has been a concerted effort made in recent years to shift the historical narratives that have surrounded slavery and the American South since 1865. Many, myself included, would say that these efforts are long overdue. Indeed, courtesy of the hard work that historians have put in, many Americans now understand that slavery was not an act of benevolence, wealthy Southern white women were complicit in the perpetuation of slavery and racism in the South, and that the Civil War was fought to end the practice of holding others in bondage. Still, the ideas that slavery was not all bad, that the Stars and Bars represent heritage instead of hate, and Confederate soldiers were veterans instead of traitors do persist in the minds of many across the United States. The question is why? The answer largely begins with how Southern white women controlled the narrative in the years directly proceeding the Civil War.
The Southern Belle...
When many people think about the American South white women in beautiful hoop skirts are the first ones that spring to mind. While hops skirts were all the rage prior to the Civil War, only around 2000 families across the region were wealthy enough to live a lifestyle akin to the one people see in Margaret Mitchell's famous novel Gone With the Wind. How is it then that the image of Scarlett O'Hara is the one that most cling to when they imagine the Old South? The answer is that Southern white women--especially the ones from the planter class that was left behind after the Civil War--took control of the historical narrative. They did so by forming historical societies across the South that were meant to preserve a nostalgic view of the pre-war South and its culture. The most famous of these was the Daughters of the Confederacy. Formed in Nashville, Tennesse, in 1894, the UDC would embark on a campaign of monument building and textbook censorship that would forever change the way Americans viewed their Civil War and the men that fought for the Southern Cause. For more on the UDC, you can check out Karen Cox's book, Dixie's Daughters. The Atlanta History Center also has a great primer article on the subject, and the Guardian also did an informative piece on the subject in 2018 that is still relevant to this day.
The Lost Cause...
The themes that the UDC relied on to weave their narrative were not pulled from thin air. In fact, these themes had been circulating since the waning days of the Civil War. These themes can also be seen in Robert E. Lee's General Order #9 as well where he states that "After four years of arduous service marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude, the Army of Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources." This idea that the cause of the confederacy had been a lost one from the start, but that they had to try is one that Edward A. Pollard would pick up on in his book The Lost Cause, A New Southern History of the War of the Confederates. Published in 1866, this book would define the Civil War as a war of ideas that was fought between two separate cultures. Pollard would also give several accounts of the mistreatment of Southen white women by Union soldiers in this work, and his subsequent works, which would lay out a path for the women of the UDC to follow. After all, who would deny a mother, daughter, or wife the right to grieve the loss of the men they had lost in battle? You can read Pollard's work on Google books for free. If you are interested in modern interpretations of Pollard's The Lost Cause Myth as well then Edward Bonekemper's book The Myth of the Lost Cause, Gary Gallagher's work The Myth of the Lost Cause and Civil War History, and Charles Reagan Wilson's book Baptized in Blood: The Religion of the Lost Cause are highly recommended.
The Plantation Myth...
Although the UDC relied heavily on the Lost Cause Myth to help them perpetuate a false narrative of Civil War history, it was not the only myth circulating at the time. One myth that has held on, even as the Lost Cause has been continually debunked since the 1970s, is that of the Plantation Myth. Unlike the Lost Cause, the Plantation Myth relies on the nostalgia for a time long past when Southern gentlemen were the picture of chivalry, and Southern belles, ball gowns, and late afternoon barbeques defined the idyllic way of Southern life. Never mind the fact that only around 10-15 percent f the total population could afford to live like this. The Plantation Myth also hides a much darker fact of life on the plantations of the American South. That fact was that this idyllic lifestyle was built on the backs of slaves. Indeed, the Southern plantation was a far cry from the "picturesque, agrarian region untouched by the evils of industrial capitalism." In fact, the South did have its own commodity that it produced for profit, and it wasn't King Cotton. This commodity was African Americans who were bought, sold, and produced through breeding for the sole purpose of selling human bodies like cattle on the open market. Slave bodies were such a lucrative commodity that the slave markets actually produced more wealth than the cotton industry did by 1861. Even though slave bodies were worth a good deal of money, the conditions that African Americans endured under slavery were not ones meant to protect human rights let alone dignity.
States' Rights?
When discussions of the Civil War are brought up many often argue the conflict between the states was that of states' rights. This is, to some degree, true. It is also true that the Civil War was fought over slavery since the one state right that all of the Southern states agreed upon was the right to hold African Americans in bondage. Put simply, the confederacy was founded on the idea that it was a state's right to self-determine if it should be a slave-holding state, and the eleven states that succeeded all agreed that their culture and life-blood depended on the subjugation and abuse of African Americas. This is evidenced in the words that these states used in their Declaration of the Causes of Secession. Alexander H. Stephens--the vice president of the ill-fated Confederate States of America--also declares slavery to be the main reason for secession in his Cornerstone Speech. In this speech, Stephens also declares "that slavery subordination to the superior race" is the "natural and normal condition" for African Americans. This is an ideology that Pollard and the UDC would pick up on and weave through their historical narratives after the war.
Divided Loyalties?
For all of their posturing, The Lost Cause Myth, the Plantation Myth, The UDC narratives, and Pollard's life work cannot escape the fact that slaves were only loyal to one idea. That idea was freedom. Slaves lived, breathed, and died in the hope that one day they would be free. As human beings, those who were enslaved understood that enslavement was not a natural human condition. Enslaved people were only as loyal to their masters as they had to be in order to survive. When freedom presented itself, former slaves embraced it with both arms and did quite well for themselves politically and financially in the initial years after the Civil War. It was only when Reconstruction failed and Jim Crow set in that many of them returned to their former plantations under the horrible conditions that would come to be known as sharecropping. The one tangible thing that former slaves were loyal to overall was family though. In Fact, many sought-out long-lost family members after the war, and new family bonds were formed based on shared experiences. Whole communities were built and rebuilt time and again after the Civil War based on this loyalty and the idea that one-day things would be better and that freedom based on equality would finally be a reality rather than a hope for the future.
Not Exhaustive...
This post was in no way meant to be exhaustive on the topics I briefly covered within it. Indeed, I have spent the last ten years reading, researching, and writing about each of them and still haven't begun to scratch the surface. My hope with this post was to encourage others to go find out about these topics for themselves. In the meantime, feel free to visit Grace Slick and me on our Instagram account. You can do that by clicking any of the images on this post. Until next time, seek joy my friends.
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