I'm a Southern Historian: AMA
On September 8th, 2021, a massive statue of Robert E. Lee was removed from his pedestal in Richmond, Virginia, over a year after the governor first ordered its relocation. Removing the False Cause of white supremacy Lee still stands for, however, is a harder feat. And now, those who dedicate themselves to this task are facing increased pushback, resistance, and even dismissals from their places of employment.
Photo credit: The R.E. Lee statue is removed in Richmond, Va. Time Magazine, https://time.com/6096224/richmond-robert-e-lee-statue/. Steve Helber, Getty Images.
History teachers in the United States are subjected to these accusations and invasive questions on the regular: “So, do you teach critical race theory in your classes?” “How do you feel about the way they teach history these days?” “It sure isn’t how I learned history.” “People like you are using their “woke” agendas to erase history.” (I personally got the “do you teach this new history” question when a nurse was drawing my blood! Needle in my body!! Big yikes!)
Here’s the thing, though: I’m a history professor in the South who specializes in the 1800s South. I don’t teach critical race theory (CRT for short), in that it’s a line of legal scholarship developed by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw. I suppose I do teach CRT in that I use history to explore “how the social construction of race and institutionalized racism perpetuate a racial caste system that relegates people of color to the bottom tiers.” Regardless of these origins, CRT has been given a new meaning by the American Right: that teachers are telling your children that the United States is racist, and all white people are bad! That we must now teach a patriotic history of the United States, and must punish anyone who wishes to do otherwise.
And here’s the problem: this fear-mongering is succeeding. Several states have passed education legislation mandating that we teach “founding documents,” promote a “diversity of viewpoints,” and even, in the case of Texas, remove requirements to teach that the Ku Klux Klan was “morally wrong.” Glenn Youngkin became Virginia’s governor thanks to his anti-CRT proselytizing, and even set up a tip line where teachers could be reported for teaching these “divisive concepts.” More Declaration of Independence, less Ruby Bridges. The white people come across as “too harsh,” otherwise.
I don’t have all the answers for the attack on history educators, and those who are willing to tell the hard histories of race in America. But I do believe that now, more than ever, it’s important that we continue to teach what anti-CRT activists are trying so hard to suppress. Sure, Confederate monuments keep tumbling down, but these actions are followed by waves of pushback against “erasing” history or even trying to explain why these folks weren’t that bad. Hell, the Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee even tried to redeem KKK leader Nathan Bedford Forrest!
It’s one thing to know, intrinsically, that these statements are false, but another altogether to be able to immediately explain how, and why, they are wrong. Perhaps it will be helpful to have these historical figures tell you what they thought at the time, in their own words.
Enter this column. I will tackle a different myth, misconception, or just understudied facet of U.S. history and unpack it in a way that’s (hopefully) much more readable than a textbook. I really want to hear from you: What questions do you have? What do you wish you knew more about?
I’ve put in years reading dusty old legal documents in nineteenth-century cursive. It’s the least I could do to produce some Sparknotes so that you all don’t have to do the same. Just maybe keep it related to U.S. history--my doctorate only stretches so far!
We’ll start with my greatest pet peeves: the myths that the Civil War wasn’t about slavery, Robert E. Lee was a saint, the Republican Party of today is the Party of Lincoln, and the Irish were slaves too.
So stay tuned, and buckle up.
If you have a history-related question for Missy, please email thegeorgiafeminist@gmail.com.
Missy DeVelvis is a historian of the U.S. South with a particular interest in the Civil War Era and women and gender studies. You can learn more about her work here.
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