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 ar wanted to secede and for!
"the confederacy#. People are often angered at the Confederate Flag and it is considered a
sy!bol of racis! to !any because one of the critical reasons that Southerners wanted to secede
fro! the union was so they could $eep slaves even if the rest of the country wanted to abolish
slavery. The election of Abraha! %incoln caused Southerners to fear that he would outlaw
slavery which was a !ain source of inco!e for so!e. &eyond that' so!e did not li$e the idea of
a strong sense of nationalis! and fought on principle for states( rights and did not want to be
controlled by The )nion. *any Southerners believed that states should have their own
sovereignty even if one of their intentions was to $eep slavery alive. In an effort to appease those
protesting the Confederate flag flying on top of the do!e at the state house the flag was relocated
to a slightly !ore hu!ble !e!orial at the front' but so!e say that is hardly a co!pro!ise
because it is still pro!inent and is displayed ne+t to a !e!orial that has the engraving' "truth'
courage and patriotis! will endure forever# and is dedicated to "the South Carolina dead of the
Confederate ar!y fro! ,-., to ,-./#. I started to thin$ about the !otto I have heard in
reference to this 0uestioning of whether the flag is a sy!bol of "heritage or hate# and I no longer
thin$ the issue is that cut and dry. The the!e in this course has been that history is always going
to be re!e!bered differently fro! different perspectives. I do not thin$ that the history of the
1
Southern confederates in the Civil ar should be hidden or erased. People should not be so
afraid to spea$ 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 tal$ed to !y dad about this paper and he re!inded !e that !y *a!a %andon 1who was
white2 "pic$ed cotton until her fingers bled' 3ust li$e blac$ people#. He said that the Civil ar is
a co!ple+ issue and was not 3ust about slavery or white elites over blac$s and pointed out the
fact that !ost people fighting the war on the south side were not 3ust fighting about slavery and
!any were peasants the!selves. I thought of Confederates in the Attic and the professor
*anning illia!s who clai!ed that "the war had little to do with slavery#. So!e would assert
that illia!s and other neoconfederates li$e hi! are revising history and downplaying the issue
of slavery but interestingly' illia!s ad!its that "he is suspicious of any agendas' !ost of all
4his5 own# yet in his eyes he strongly believes that the issue was a !atter of Southerners wanting
to $eep society agricultural versus northerners who sought to e+pand industriali6ation. However'
one could clai! that illia!s is ignoring the fact that the agricultural far!s were tended to by
slaves. ars are al!ost always co!ple+ and different people have different perspectives about
the issues behind the!.
I went to the state house pursuing !ore infor!ation about the Civil ar and the
Confederacy. I as$ed around for infor!ation about the confederate flag and its controversy. I
told a wo!an at the visitors( des$ that I was doing a paper on the issue of the Confederate flags
place in the State House and I wanted to $now if they held any tours that discussed the issue at
all. In response I was told that the only tours that are given are indoor tours' which is interesting
because it see!s to be that they are evading discussing the flag outside. hen I went to the gift
shop the only things I found were trin$ets with the Pal!etto flag and hot teabags with flavors
2
li$e "Southern Peach#' but no boo$s or !e!orabilia about the Civil ar. The lady wor$ing at
the gift shop was very friendly and gave !e several pa!phlets but one tal$ed about where to go
if you were touring Colu!bia' South Carolina and the other two didn(t really give !e any
infor!ation relevant to the topic that I was interested in. I loo$ed around at the paintings and
pla0ues on the walls and did see a few depicting Confederate soldiers. 7ne of the paintings had a
description ne+t to it that said "Sergeant 8ichard 8owland' nineteen year old South Carolina
far!boys act of herois!# and it clai!ed that he was $illed in a Confederate charge at
Chic$a!auga and his last words were "tell !y father I died right#' the boy was awarded the
confederate !edal of honor. I also saw words li$e gallantry' patriotis! and courage around the
!useu!. I thin$ that the State House pays tribute respectfully to the soldiers of the war' but the
causes behind the Civil ar are not really !entioned in concrete ter!s and little is being
interpreted. This !ade !e thin$ of The Remains of that Day because although the attac$s on
Septe!ber ,,
th
are fairly far re!oved fro! the issues surrounding the Civil ar' both historical
sites share a co!!on the!e of unwillingness to tal$. At the reflection pools at the site of the
for!er orld Trade Center our president &arac$ 7ba!a and for!er president 9eorge . &ush
visited and stood silently. The author of the article wonders what the role of a public !e!orial
should be' whether to pay respect to the bereaved or to conte+tuali6e events in our history so that
the public will have an understanding fro! different perspectives. It is disheartening that the
!onu!ent ne+t to the flag and the flag itself hang outside but no tour guides will e+plain its(
significance or answer 0uestions fro! visitors. A century and a half has passed since the Civil
ar but perhaps we are still not ready to tal$ about it.
The Enola Gay Controversy is one chapter in a boo$ entitled' "Hiroshi!a in History and
*e!ory# that see$s to highlight the issue of political correctness. The article discusses the
3
initial !e!orial at the S!ithsonian that payed sy!pathy to the casualties of Hiroshi!a. The
curators 0uestioned whether the )nited States decision to drop the ato!ic bo!bs on Hiroshi!a
in August of ,:;/ was a necessary !eans of preventing or e+acerbating ar. <eterans were
outraged and clai!ed that the curators were historical revisionists who cared !ore about their
own personal philosophies and intellect than they did about the true conte+t of what happened on
that day. The wor$ers at the S!ithsonian responded to the bac$lash by changing the e+hibit in
order to placate the veterans and other critics. The second e+hibit e+posed visitors to both sides
of the story and an atte!pt was !ade to pay respect to both the veterans and the victi!s.
However' the slightly !odified e+hibit still did not please their critics and the S!ithsonian
curators were threatened by the govern!ent to either change the e+hibit once !ore or lose
govern!ent funding. After all the fighting the S!ithsonian e+hibit was transfor!ed into a site
that would not be offensive to any of the )nited States veterans and did not offer political
criticis!s. I particularly li$e the line on page si+ty=one' "The Enola Gay controversy proved
again that history is contested terrain' particularly when public presentations of the past interfere
with living !e!ory#. The reason that I have discussed The Enola Gay Controversy in relation to
the issue of the Confederate flag is because I thin$ that both illustrate that people wor$ing at
historical sites reali6e that history is a fragile topic that is re!e!bered very differently for
different individuals fro! different bac$grounds and political ideologies. Too often this causes
curators to choose to re!ain co!pletely silent about i!portant issues for fear of offending
anyone with public state!ents. At the State House I would have li$ed to see writing displayed
that accounted for the issue fro! various perspectives and I thin$ that the State House should
analy6e and discuss the Civil ar honestly and reflectively' with an interest in different
perspectives.
4