Lost Cause Collective Memory and the Perpetuation of Modern Inequality: A Social History Study

Abstract

The Lost Cause ideology of the Civil War has created a distorted collective memory that established a pattern of lawful inequality and disenfranchisement that continues to exist today. The distortion of the legacy of the Confederacy was planted with heritage, honor, and patriotism instead of the legacy’s true racist roots which placed blinders on many in American society. The results found indicate that there is a correlation between the Lost Cause legacy and modern practices of inequality disguised as practices that are deemed fair or protective because of the fusion of US patriotism with the misunderstood Rebellion of the South. This social history project is based primarily in the social and racial lenses although the political, economic, and geographical lenses are major factors in supporting the argument that the Lost Cause, itself, was more responsible for modern racial problems than the racist policies that followed Reconstruction because memory enabled those policies to linger for a longer time. The literature used to promote the thesis draws from an array of scholarly sources that tie racism and the Lost Cause to modern practices of inequality and disenfranchisement by combining texts on Lost Cause mythology and legacy with those that pertain to the history of racism and segregation. The primary sources were retrieved from an assortment of newspaper articles, statistical databases, collections, and archives. Newspaper articles are sourced from publications like the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Richmond Planet, Spokane Daily Chronicle, and The Black Panther. Statistics are sourced from the US Census Bureau and the Prison Policy Initiative. Collections include the American Battlefield Trust, US Government Printing Office, the Atlanta History Center, and the RAAB Collection. Some archives sourced include Furman University, Texas State Library and Archives, and the Library of Congress.