Racialized Reactions to Counter-Monuments: Reimagining Civil War Memory in the U.S. South?

• In Event: Peace, War, and Social Conflict Panel Session: After War

Abstract

Commemorative practices around racial violence and resistance have gained renewed urgency since the 2020 murder of George Floyd and subsequent attacks on representations of history. These commemorative efforts function as counter-narrative projects or initiatives that challenge dominant historical accounts by centering marginalized voices and reinterpreting the past through the lens of resistance and agency. Yet, counter-narratives honoring Black agency remain rare and we have limited knowledge on how commemorative projects affect the people and places connected with them. Our research asks: In what ways does the introduction of a counter-narrative monument affect attitudes toward racialized groups and relevant histories? We answer this question by assessing how racial attitudes unfold across time in a county where a monument to the United States Colored Troops was introduced into the commemorative landscape. With this community as our example, the study explores how such counter-narrative monuments influence collective memory, public discourse, and intergroup dynamics. We seek to understand: How do residents perceive the monument? How does it shape intra-/inter-group relations? How does it affect public sentiment toward the Civil War? This research links historical truth-telling to contemporary struggles for racial justice, examining whether and how the reshaping of public memory influences institutional practices, civic identity, and policy.

Authors

• Ashley Veronica Reichelmann, Virginia Tech

• Heather Avery O'Connell, Louisiana State University

• Claire Whitlinger, Furman University