(Dis) Union at 150: Collective Memories of Secession

Abstract

This article reports on the results of an exploratory qualitative study of the collective memories of Secession held by a diverse group of university students (n = 54) at a large southern research institution. Participants completed a survey that asked them to produce a narrative of Secession as well as to rank a selection of heroes and provide an explanation for their ranking. We found that the majority of responses contained elements from different, and even opposing, collective-memory traditions, including the Lost Cause and freedom-quest narratives of the Civil War. The article explores the responses using a theoretical framework based on the socio-cultural theories of language and narrative developed by Bakhtin and Wertsch in light of historical work done on collective memory of the Civil War.

Keywords:

• American Civil War
• collective memory
• narrative research

Notes

1. ¹Readers with some knowledge of the lead-up to the Civil War will note that there is little historical truth in these accounts. The Republican Party, led by Lincoln, was opposed to the spread of slavery into new territories, and abolitionists were only a part of a larger political coalition. In addition, the South was over-represented in Congress, a result of compromises made in drafting the Constitution and the canniness of anti-bellum southern politicians (McPherson, 1988/2003). Readers should keep in mind, however, that the purpose of collective memory is to tie people together around a set of moral ideas of cause and effect, not to present an accurate picture of the past based on evidence. It should also be noted that economic historians have argued that the anti-bellum South was a colony of sorts for both northern merchant and banking interests as well as British textile manufacturers. After the Civil War, the South remained an economic colony of the North using agricultural serfs to supply raw goods to northern factories (Lind, 2012).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gabriel A. Reich

GABRIEL A. REICH is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23284-2020. He can be contacted at [email protected].

Melanie Buffington

MELANIE BUFFINGTON is an Associate Professor of Art Education at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23284-2020. She can be contacted at [email protected].

William R. Muth

WILLIAM R. MUTH is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23284-2020. He can be contacted at [email protected].