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Across the South, Americans of all races, ethnicities and creeds are asking why governmental bodies in a democracy based on the promise of equality should display symbols so closely associated with the bondage and oppression of African Americans.

Our Heritage Lost Cause mythology holds that Confederate symbols do not represent white supremacy or an attempt to rewrite history but instead embody an innocuous preserving of “Southern heritage.” This is not true. Historical evidence reveals that the existence of more than 2,000 Confederate memorials across the country is the result of an organized propaganda…

The Politics of Civil War Memory At no point during the Civil War did any Confederate symbol come within six miles of the U.S. Capitol. Yet on Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol rioter Kevin Seefried carried a Confederate battle flag right inside. What we think of today as the Confederate flag was one of many flags…

“The Confederacy Is Dead; Long Live the Confederacy!“ In February 1865, two months before the end of the Civil War, the Confederate mayor of Charleston, South Carolina, surrendered. One person who accepted his surrender was William Dupree, Second Lieutenant of the Massachusetts 55th Infantry Regiment — a Black regiment. Imagine the power of an African…

There Is Still Room for Truth Depending on your location, you may find that where statues once stood honoring white supremacist Confederate leaders, there are now plaques explaining the truthful, painful history of Black enslavement and subjugation. Or you may still be forced to bear witness to the carved stone faces of, or buildings named…