Public History

Analysis

Jennifer Sweeney

In South Carolina controversy surrounds the issue of the Confederate Flag at the State

House and people have different opinions about what the flag stands for and whether it has its

place at the State House. The Southern Slave States in the Civil War wanted to secede and form

“the confederacy”. People are often angered at the Confederate Flag and it is considered a

symbol of racism to many because one of the critical reasons that Southerners wanted to secede

from the union was so they could keep slaves even if the rest of the country wanted to abolish

slavery. The election of Abraham Lincoln caused Southerners to fear that he would outlaw

slavery which was a main source of income for some. Beyond that, some did not like the idea of

a strong sense of nationalism and fought on principle for states’ rights and did not want to be

controlled by The Union. Many Southerners believed that states should have their own

sovereignty even if one of their intentions was to keep slavery alive. In an effort to appease those

protesting the Confederate flag flying on top of the dome at the state house the flag was relocated

to a slightly more humble memorial at the front, but some say that is hardly a compromise

because it is still prominent and is displayed next to a memorial that has the engraving, “truth,

courage and patriotism will endure forever” and is dedicated to “the South Carolina dead of the

Confederate army from 1861 to 1865”. I started to think about the motto I have heard in

reference to this questioning of whether the flag is a symbol of “heritage or hate” and I no longer

think the issue is that cut and dry. The theme in this course has been that history is always going

1

to be remembered differently from different perspectives. I do not think that the history of the

Southern confederates in the Civil War should be hidden or erased. People should not be so

afraid to speak about the flag and it should have its place as part of our history but the story

should be told with consideration for various perspectives.

I talked to my dad about this paper and he reminded me that my Mama Landon (who was

white) “picked cotton until her fingers bled, just like black people”. He said that the Civil War is

a complex issue and was not just about slavery or white elites over blacks and pointed out the

fact that most people fighting the war on the south side were not just fighting about slavery and

many were peasants themselves. I thought of Confederates in the Attic and the professor

Manning Williams who claimed that “the war had little to do with slavery”. Some would assert

that Williams and other neoconfederates like him are revising history and downplaying the issue

of slavery but interestingly, Williams admits that “he is suspicious of any agendas, most of all

[his] own” yet in his eyes he strongly believes that the issue was a matter of Southerners wanting

to keep society agricultural versus northerners who sought to expand industrialization. However,

one could claim that Williams is ignoring the fact that the agricultural farms were tended to by

slaves. Wars are almost always complex and different people have different perspectives about

the issues behind them.

I went to the state house pursuing more information about the Civil War and the

Confederacy. I asked around for information about the confederate flag and its controversy. I

told a woman at the visitors’ desk that I was doing a paper on the issue of the Confederate flags

place in the State House and I wanted to know if they held any tours that discussed the issue at

all. In response I was told that the only tours that are given are indoor tours, which is interesting

because it seems to be that they are evading discussing the flag outside. When I went to the gift

2

shop the only things I found were trinkets with the Palmetto flag and hot teabags with flavors

like “Southern Peach”, but no books or memorabilia about the Civil War. The lady working at

the gift shop was very friendly and gave me several pamphlets but one talked about where to go

if you were touring Columbia, South Carolina and the other two didn’t really give me any

information relevant to the topic that I was interested in. I looked around at the paintings and

plaques on the walls and did see a few depicting Confederate soldiers. One of the paintings had a

description next to it that said “Sergeant Richard Rowland, nineteen year old South Carolina

farmboys act of heroism” and it claimed that he was killed in a Confederate charge at

Chickamauga and his last words were “tell my father I died right”, the boy was awarded the

confederate medal of honor. I also saw words like gallantry, patriotism and courage around the

museum. I think that the State House pays tribute respectfully to the soldiers of the war, but the

causes behind the Civil War are not really mentioned in concrete terms and little is being

interpreted. This made me think of The Remains of that Day because although the attacks on

September 11th are fairly far removed from the issues surrounding the Civil War, both historical

sites share a common theme of unwillingness to talk. At the reflection pools at the site of the

former World Trade Center our president Barack Obama and former president George W. Bush

visited and stood silently. The author of the article wonders what the role of a public memorial

should be, whether to pay respect to the bereaved or to contextualize events in our history so that

the public will have an understanding from different perspectives. It is disheartening that the

monument next to the flag and the flag itself hang outside but no tour guides will explain its’

significance or answer questions from visitors. A century and a half has passed since the Civil

War but perhaps we are still not ready to talk about it.

The Enola Gay Controversy is one chapter in a book entitled, “Hiroshima in History and

3

Memory” that seeks to highlight the issue of political correctness. The article discusses the

initial memorial at the Smithsonian that payed sympathy to the casualties of Hiroshima. The

curators questioned whether the United States decision to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima

in August of 1945 was a necessary means of preventing or exacerbating War. Veterans were

outraged and claimed that the curators were historical revisionists who cared more about their

own personal philosophies and intellect than they did about the true context of what happened on

that day. The workers at the Smithsonian responded to the backlash by changing the exhibit in

order to placate the veterans and other critics. The second exhibit exposed visitors to both sides

of the story and an attempt was made to pay respect to both the veterans and the victims.

However, the slightly modified exhibit still did not please their critics and the Smithsonian

curators were threatened by the government to either change the exhibit once more or lose

government funding. After all the fighting the Smithsonian exhibit was transformed into a site

that would not be offensive to any of the United States veterans and did not offer political

criticisms. I particularly like the line on page sixty-one, “The Enola Gay controversy proved

again that history is contested terrain, particularly when public presentations of the past interfere

with living memory”. The reason that I have discussed The Enola Gay Controversy in relation to

the issue of the Confederate flag is because I think that both illustrate that people working at

historical sites realize that history is a fragile topic that is remembered very differently for

different individuals from different backgrounds and political ideologies. Too often this causes

curators to choose to remain completely silent about important issues for fear of offending

anyone with public statements. At the State House I would have liked to see writing displayed

that accounted for the issue from various perspectives and I think that the State House should

analyze and discuss the Civil War honestly and reflectively, with an interest in different

4

perspectives.

5