On Thursday, a statue of Jefferson Davis, the second of four Civil War monuments installed in New Orleans, was removed and towed to a secret storage facility — part of a plan by city officials to erase reminders of an era that celebrated white supremacy. supremacy and racism. But this was not the first time the conflict, which ended more than 150 years ago, has made headlines in recent weeks and months. The first monument, an obelisk built in 1891 to honor members of a white nationalist group who fought against New Orleans' racially integrated police and militia, was removed in late April. Earlier this month, President Donald J. Trump questioned why the Civil War happened at all. And one doesn't have to go far back to find other Civil War-related titles.
So why does the Civil War continue to have such an impact on people and politics? We asked Martin Blatt, professor of medical history and director of the public history program at Northeastern.
Why does the Civil War continue to have such an impact on US politics?
Most nations have dark, troubled, violent periods in their history. For example, Russia has the Gulag. South Africa has apartheid. Germany has the Holocaust. In today's Russia, Putin has thwarted efforts to effectively address the memory of the vast prison system known as the Gulag. South Africa and Germany have fared better relative to their history.
What is the central feature of brutality in America's past? It is undoubtedly slavery and the oppressive treatment of Native Americans. Slavery has long, deep roots, dating back to the 17th century colonies. Slavery was central to the successful development of capitalism in the United States, and as such was a critical force throughout the nation. A central cause of the Civil War was the determination of the seceding states to maintain the institution of slavery. The secession documents make this abundantly clear.
The intellectual and activist WEB DuBois declared in 1903 that “the problem of the 20th century is the problem of the color line,” a characterization that is still very relevant in the 21st century. Historians James and Lois Horton trace “the nation's most enduring contradiction: the history of American slavery in a country dedicated to freedom.”
These terrible pasts can never be fully resolved nor should that be the goal of politicians or public historians engaged in dealing with this history. Rather, what is more important are the ongoing, changing efforts to remember, mark, and memorialize these troubled pasts. There can be no final solution. The ongoing unfolding of memory-centered conflicts and creative endeavors is of great importance to all of us.
The removal of Civil War monuments in New Orleans has sparked backlash, including protests and threats against crane operators, making it clear that the war still represents different things to different groups of people. What does the removal of these monuments symbolize? How can a community reconcile this with the dangers of erasing history?
If we look at the removal of monuments in New Orleans, it is necessary to consider it in context. Erika Doss, in her book Memorial Mania, reports that in 1946, the Allied forces in Germany issued Directive No. 30, “The Liquidation of German Military and Nazi Monuments and Museums,” within 18 months. In 2003, he notes, American soldiers in Iraq tore down many monuments to Saddam Hussein. He asks us to consider the contradiction that “the United States allows—or more accurately, ignores—monuments to defeated states and the underlying white supremacy policies of the secessionist Southern Confederacy.”
Furthermore, there is long-standing controversy and disagreement about these public tributes to white supremacy in the South, including those in New Orleans. New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu has targeted four monuments for removal and possible relocation by adding clarifying interpretation. The New York Times References that the first piece removed, the Statue of Liberty, “was removed on April 24 by workers wearing jackets and scarves to hide their identities.”
Why was a monument with such a good name so problematic? It honors the Battle of Freedom. And who were the fighters? On one side was the White League, which successfully overthrew Louisiana's elected government of white Republicans and newly acquired blacks. Several dozen people were killed and injured. State government was restored by federal troops, but with the end of Reconstruction in 1877, blacks throughout the South were subjected to disenfranchisement, Jim Crow, and lynchings. The 1882 approval of the 1891 obelisk called for it to honor those who “fell in defense of liberty and national sovereignty in this heroic struggle…” A 1934 plaque sponsored by the New Deal Works Progress Administration was clear: “The United States troops took over the state government and restored the usurpers, but the national election of 1876 recognized white supremacy and gave us our state.”
Understandably, the Statue of Liberty is a constant source of controversy in New Orleans, especially with the rise of the black population as a political force. There is no clear path on how to deal with the landscape monument issue in the South. Sanford Levinson, inside Written in Stone, provides an interesting discussion focusing on the Memorial to the Confederate Dead in Austin, Texas. His analysis could be applied to other facilities as well. He outlines a range of alternatives from “leaving it as is” to destroying it to redeploying the monument to the Texas history museum where it could be incorporated. It also suggests the addition of plaques and/or memorabilia that provide a counter-narrative, such as a tribute to those enslaved by Texans and other pieces commemorating the African-American experience.
The 2016 election revealed a nation deeply divided. Although we are a long way from civil war, what lessons can elected officials and ordinary citizens learn from the conflict of 1861 to help build unity today?
The most important lesson that elected officials and citizens can learn from the Civil War is the enduring power of racism in American culture and history. In his powerful message to his son, Between the world and me, African-American author Ta-Nehishi Coates states, “You cannot forget how much they took from us and how they turned our bodies into sugar, tobacco, cotton and gold.” Coates argues: “In America, it's a tradition to destroy the black body—it is Legacy.” In his seminal essay on reparations, Coates argues that the United States begins with black plunder and white democracy, “two characteristics that are not contradictory but complementary.” It defines reparations as “the full acceptance of our collective biography and its consequences.” In publicly grappling with these questions, Coates says “it matters—if not more than—the specific answers that might be produced.”
A key element of President Trump's election victory was how much what he had to say about black people in inner cities resonated with many white voters. He deliberately instilled fear and loathing in black communities which was successfully converted into votes. This deep-seated fear and associated racial hatred has its roots in slavery and the aftermath of slavery. Trump, of course, has tapped into other fears that he's tapped into for votes — fear of women and fear of immigrants.
From the Confederate flag debate in 2015 to more recent debates, how has the Civil War issue evolved in the political sphere over the past decade or so?
The Civil War continues to have a significant impact on American cultural life, and controversies still rage. I worked for 24 years for the National Park Service, leaving a few years ago to come to work at Northeastern. Important custodians of American heritage, the NPS has experienced and continues to experience conflict throughout Civil War history.
For several decades, public interpretation at Civil War battlefield parks focused on the smallest details of the battles, but failed to identify the single, most important cause of the war—slavery. A number of factors led to the implementation of major changes in the 1990s, beginning with Gettysburg, but not without a major push from the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
In his final week in office, President Obama used his presidential power to declare a national park dedicated to Reconstruction in Beaufort, South Carolina. It was a shame that up until that point the agency had no parks focused on Reconstruction, a critical moment in United States history that is widely misunderstood. Given the power of this symbolism and history, it is highly unlikely that President Trump and the Republican Congress will approve any funding for this new park. At some point in the future, we can foresee funding and then a struggle over how to interpret Reconstruction as the NPS and the nation continue to grapple with the powerful legacies of slavery and the Civil War.