Removal of Confederate Monuments as a Reflection of Contemporary Southern Reintegration

Abstract

This article will examine the role of memory within the context of Confederate monuments commemorating southern soldiers and civilians in the American Civil War, and the impact of those monuments on memory. According to John Shelton Reed, of the Center for Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina, after the Civil War and in the interest of reconciliation, the United States entered into an unspoken agreement to allow southerners, and others to celebrate and remember those who sacrificed for the Confederacy. This agreement allowed for the celebration of the symbols of the ante-bellum South and the Confederacy, including the support of the Confederate flag, Confederate songs, and erection of monuments, primarily in the South but also in the northern regions of the country. I will argue that recent events in the United States, such as Dylan Roof ’s 2015 massacre of African Americans in a Charlestown, South Carolina church, the “Black Lives” movement, and the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, have contributed to a break-down of this unspoken agreement. Although most Americans support keeping the Confederate monuments in place, there is not enough strong widespread public opposition to their removal. This suggests a disintegration of the unspoken agreement regarding reintegration between the federal government and the southern people, which is primarily due to a more thorough integration of the South into mainstream American economy, culture and politics.