The Southern Past: A Clash of Race and Memory

by W. Fitzhugh Brundage

Since the Civil War whites and blacks have struggled over the meanings and uses of the Southern past. Indeed, today's controversies over flying the Confederate flag, renaming schools and streets, and commemorating the Civil War and the civil rights movement are only the latest examples of this ongoing divisive contest over issues of regional identity and heritage. The Southern Past argues that these battles are ultimately about who has the power to determine what we remember of the past, and whether that remembrance will honor all Southerners or only select groups. For more than a century after the Civil War, elite white Southerners systematically refined a version of the past that sanctioned their racial privilege and power. In the process, they filled public spaces with museums and monuments that made their version of the past sacrosanct. Yet, even as segregation and racial discrimination worsened, blacks contested the white version of Southern history and demanded inclusion. Streets became sites for elaborate commemorations of emancipation and schools became centers for the study of black history. This counter-memory surged forth, and became a potent inspiration for the civil rights movement and the black struggle to share a common Southern past rather than a divided one. W. Fitzhugh Brundage's searing exploration of how those who have the political power to represent the past simultaneously shape the present and determine the future is a valuable lesson as we confront our national past to meet the challenge of current realities.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Race, Southern, Civil War

432 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

William Fitzhugh Brundage (born 1961) is an American historian, and William B. Umstead Professor of History, at University of North Carolina. He graduated from the University of Chicago, and from Harvard University with an MA and Ph.D, in 1988. Prior to taking up his current position at the University of North Carolina, he taught at Queen's University, and University of Florida.

Reviews

[Jessica (JT) Thelen · Rating 4 out of 5]

And the question remains: where do we go from here?

[Tori · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books. As a historian, I have used and abused my copy of this book and it's riddled with bookmarks and notes. I recommend this to anyone and everyone that will listen.

[Yasmine Flodin-Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, heavily skimmed, need to return to.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used this book for an undergraduate seminar on historical controversies at our university. The book doesn’t directly talk about our university, but sets up a good working definition of the concept of public memory and the origins of Confederate statues and monuments in the US south.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book discusses how race has influenced the remembrance of history. Very intriguing.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for school, but it was really engaging.

[Audra Slaymaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dense, but surprisingly good! I read this for my Intro to Public History class.

[Brendon Hamacher]

Reading for Historical Myth Class.