Confederate Statues In American Culture

Improved Essays
The articles I have analyzed for the past few weeks discuss the controversy over Confederate Statues. In the article "Confederate Statues and American Memory" by Roger Cohen, he presents a solution to the question of what should become of these statues; suggesting that the statues be removed from pedestals and placed in museums. While in the article "Confederate Statues and "our" History by Eric Foner, he discusses a statement made by President Trump discussing how the removal of these statues will destroy "our" history and heritage. Foner questions exactly whose history is being destroyed and who is included in "our", while elaborating on why these statues should be removed. A reminder of white supremacy, misleading history, slavery and the mistreatment of African Americans by those represented in confederate statues are causes of why many want to see these statues removed.

The misleading and half told truth of America's past history has led Americans to have different perspectives of what Confederate Statues stand for. For example, Foner elaborates on Trump's use of the word our when talking about removing statues will destroy "our" history and heritage. The word "our" in Trump's Statement is supposed
…show more content…
From being counted as three-fifths of a person to separate schools, bathrooms and water fountains, to injustice in the judicial system. Cohen states that during slavery it was said that blacks were not equal to the white men and that they were only good as slaves. An example of those in the Confederate era not seeing blacks as equal. While Foner discusses a court case where the judge made a statement that African Americans will always be aliens and not Americans. People want to see the statues of men who saw certain races as inferior to their own race while fighting to keep it that way removed because it is once again a constant reminder of

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In this transcript of “Mayor Landrieu’s Address on Confederate Monuments” written by Derek Cosson, Mayor Landrieu advocates for the removal of Confederate monuments located in New Orleans’. The mayor states, “it is self-evident that these men did not fight for the United States of America, they fought against it. They may have been warriors, but in this cause, they were not patriots” (pg.4, 2017). The essence of Mayor Landrieu’s argument is that these statues of Confederate soldiers are not to remain as they glorify the soldiers and the actions that they have done in the past. Statues are there to remember those who are worth remembering for their work to make the country as marvelous as can be.…

    • 931 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Confederate Flag

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages

    “American public opinion on the confederate flag remains about where it was 15 years ago, with most describing the flag as a symbol of Southern Pride more than one of racism.” (Agiesta 1) The confederate flag will always be a part of the history in the United States. It has been integrated in the culture for well over a hundred years, and now that all of a sudden a shooting happened everyone wants to blame a flag and remove it based on prejudice or racism. The flag is a symbol of patriots who were trying to protect a country and make sure it remained as the founders of the country intended it to.…

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Could secession and racism be so intimately connected? Had white supremacy also form a critical element in the secessionist cause? Through the book Apostles of Disunion, the historian Charles Dew attempts to respond to these questions examining the speeches and letters from the secession commissioners who were in charge of convincing the Southern States to secede from the Union in 1860 – 1861. This essay will present the aspects of culture, society and politics the people from the South were trying to protect, the real reasons they had to secede from the Union, and how these reasons have been changed by some groups since the civil war. It is evident that racial issues and protection of slavery were the central concern on the reasons presented by the commissioners, rather than the consternation for the economy or the defense of the States Rights.…

    • 1377 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Recently the United States have been subject to racial discrimination and the controversy surrounding the topic has resulted in multiple tragedies in our society. It can be considerably seen that the racial discrimination has created an undergoing turmoil for various hate crimes, police brutality and overall resurfacing discrimination throughout the country. The most recent subject at hand in which is being discussed is the banning of the Confederate flag. Should the confederate flag be banned? Why or Why not?…

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What does the Confederate flag represent? From this simple question, many different answers are generated. Most notably the answers that are given are "slavery" and "racism". This is not the case for everyone. Being raised in North Carolina, I often see the Confederate flag.…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Confederate Flag Controversy For a long time coming in the United States people are finally saying how they feel about the Confederate Flag. Some people believe it is part of their heritage, others think it is a sign of racism and disrespect. People tend not to pay attention to the real meaning of the flag. Everyone and each family has their own meaning for the Confederate Flag but the straight forward meaning this that is was the Confederates flag in a war that took place almost 150 years ago.…

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Since and during the Civil War, the Confederate flag has been proposed as a symbol of treason and opposition against the United States, acting as the flag for a separate country titled the Confederate States of America. The flag is often utilized to rise and generate feelings of secession and rebellion. In today’s time, discussion regarding the South seceding from the United States has been a heated topic for some devout Southerners due to new implemented laws, such as Gay marriage legalization, and new opposition facing the sacred flag of the South. For many Southerners, this is an attack on their conservative beliefs and ways, which only increases tension and feelings of secession. Furthermore, the Confederate flag, symbolizing rebellion…

    • 209 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    it states that “However, that doesn’t mean we must exalt the ugliest chapters, as we do when we raise the Confederacy up on a pedestal- literally- in our most prominent public places.” The Confederate statues are a constant reminder of all that has happened to citizens who have to see the statues. A second reason why cities should be allowed to take down Confederate monuments is that the removal of statues will no longer represent poor…

    • 282 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The article has amazing information that will benefit my paper immensely. The article starts by explaining that the students learned about the current events of the Confederate flag in order to make their own opinions. The articles they read explained both sides of the Confederate flag arguments. They most commonly found that people either saw the flag as a symbol of honoring their ancestors that died in the war.…

    • 592 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Confederate flag must be removed: Many Americans think that the Confederate flag should be removed for many reasons. One woman, author Monica Potts, wrote an article “ Why the Confederate flag must be removed,” published in 2015 in Vogue, and she argues that the flag not only represents hatred- slavery, the bloody aftermath of emancipation, Jim Crow, lynching- but hatred that is still with us. Potts begins by telling a personal story about how the flag was connected to the world she knew. However, at the end of the article Potts says that it is unclear to her the people in South Carolina and elsewhere see the rampant poverty, and the recent high-profile cases of police violence, and other things that removing the flag won't change.…

    • 492 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Visitation Paper: Appomattox Courthouse Bringing an end to one of the most horrendous wars in American history, the Appomattox Courthouse was the surrender site of the Civil War. The southern and northern armies have been fighting one another for four long years, and leading those armies were Confederate General Robert E. Lee and Union General Ulysses S. Grant. During the spring of 1865, Lee wanted to meet with Grant in the a nearby house in Appomattox County to have a discussion, which ultimately lead to the south’s surrender to the Union.…

    • 1106 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    However, many people believe that the flag should be taken down while some think it should stay up. Symbols of the Confederacy should not be permitted in the public because it is an outdated emblem of slavery and oppression and because the symbols promote terrorism and hate crimes in the South.…

    • 593 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Lost Cause Analysis

    • 1131 Words
    • 5 Pages

    “Lost Cause” advocates in the South, despite saying otherwise, promoted a political message about the Confederacy because “Lost Cause” advocates tried to portray a glorified image of the Confederacy to all people to ensure that the causes fought for in the Civil War remained supported. The “Lost Cause” of the South was limited because the movement appeared elitist to many people. The main influence of the “Lost Cause” was that it ensured racist sentiments towards African Americans would continue in the South and slavery would continue to be viewed as a positive good. “Lost Cause” advocates in the South promoted a political message about the Confederacy by painting a glorified image of the Confederacy to many Americans in an attempt to keep…

    • 1131 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Understanding our Present Moment Within Russell McCutcheon’s “Understanding Our Present Moment,” he illustrates the various ideas and arguments portrayed in this day and age, primarily in relevance to religious scholars and their concept of the sacred. Russell brings to attention a comment recently made by President Trump in response to the removal of the confederate monuments, and the protests that have occurred involving the defilement of such. Trump argues that the removal of such memorials is a “slippery slope,” and he questions whether or not we will be able to draw a definitive line between which statues will remain and which will be removed. For example, Trump brings into question the statues of our founding fathers such as Washington and Jefferson, contending that since they owned slaves it would be enough to bring controversy to the validity and necessity of what the monuments stood for. On the contrary, religious scholars like McCutcheon have been able to assist in clarifying this line by acknowledging the context and society that the founders existed in.…

    • 792 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    This article talks about how President Trump is more concerned about protecting confederate statues rather than protecting those of African-American culture and other minorities from discrimination and violence. The author researched information on a similar historical figure, to compare with a present figure. This article is for those who wish to catch up with politics, and understand Trumps intentions, from a liberal perspective. This article, unfortunately, is not very similar to the other article I cited besides the fact these are both real issues currently happening within the past months and even as we speak, widely spread issues coming from all sorts of perspectives. In conclusion, this article is in favor of those who feel and need to be aware of where Trumps stance on discrimination is right now.…

    • 325 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays