The United Daughters of the Confederacy
Worth a read (via the NYT): The Confederacy’s ‘Living Monuments’
The Daughters’ ambitious agenda was not solely focused on monuments. They sought to collect and preserve the artifacts of war, as well as archival material, which they believed would help tell a “truthful” history of the Confederacy. Indeed, what they collected often formed the basis of the first state archives and museums of history in the South.
[…]
The Daughters’ primary objective, however, was to instill in Southern white youth a reverence for Confederate principles. Indeed, they regarded their efforts to educate children as their most important work as they sought, in their words, to build “living monuments” who would grow up to defend states’ rights and white supremacy.
The Daughters didn’t just operate in the South. The windows being removed from the National Cathedral were funded by them. They insisted that only the two rebellious generals be included and wouldn’t consider including any other figures from the War of the Rebellion.
They seem to have been successful, although I doubt they were very honest about what those”principles” are.
@gevinshaw: Started to dash off a quick note to the effect that Washington DC was thought of as a very southern city until recently. Then I thought, how long have those windows been there? And off to Wikipedia — they were installed in ’53. So, yes, it was during the last days that Washington was more like Virginia than Pennsylvania.
@JohnMcC: I get your point, but, of course, DC wasn’t thought of as a southern city during the rebellion.
Well… the result is they are apparently successful in their goals.
The Alt-Right decided to revisit Charlotte again, with their tiki torches
The trend in the US that IS very disturbing to me is that when you hear the tactics of the far right / fascists / white supremacists … and they are SO shocking and unbelievable to average Americans… that the “normal” GOP folk are trying to explain it away as somehow Dem propaganda… or actually instigated somehow by the left.
I sat across from one this past week, telling me that Charlotte was actually a false flag leftist created event, and that there is some sort of activity going on behind the scenes that is not made public…
No.
These are the emboldened right. Creeping out of the dank dark places of history.
White supremacists chanting “Russia is our Friend” while alternatively singing Dixie? Of course they are.
Folks: What the hell is going on here?
Does reality matter at all to these people anymore?
Somehow, I keep coming back to the notion that Lincoln made a big mistake by preserving the Union. The South wanted to leave; we may never have the opportunity to agree with The South again.
Full disclosure:
I have relatives in Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas
@al-Ameda: Destroying the institution of slavery was a good thing.
On the other hand, I would call the Reconstruction our first failed attempt at nation building.
We weren’t willing to see it through, and we left the existing upper class mostly untouched, except for the loss of their slaves — they were allowed to keep the wealth generated by slave labor. We did a better job of nation building in Germany after WWII where we tried and hung most of the leadership.