Their battle to maintain Confederate culture–by perpetuating pro-southern history, educating white children, and yes, building monuments–required that the men of their generation be victorious in creating a southern power structure that their forefathers had failed to achieve. Two generations removed from the Civil War, these women saw their efforts as part of an overall program of vindicating the Confederacy and those who sought to preserve it.

She continues, “Through a broad-based agenda to perpetuate Confederate memory, the Daughters gave inspiration to southern white men intent on dominating black southerners at every step, and by violence if necessary. And as events since 2015 have made clear, the monuments the Daughters built continue to maintain a tight hold on southern politics, southern history, and the southern landscape where they still stand.” Rather, these monuments are part of a longer history that is also mired in racial inequality and modified by black resistance.

As Professor Cox tells us, “The history of Confederate monuments is not limited to those who built them or to those who venerated the Lost Cause. Most of the monuments were erected as a result of the efforts of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. This book comes to us from Professor Karen Cox, who is perhaps the best authority on confederate monumentation.

Karen cox no common ground