Anyone who has followed the debate surrounding the history of the Confederate monument in Arlington National Cemetery has had to sift through a great deal of misinformation. To help us better understand this history, I am joined by Dr. Karen Cox, who teaches at the University of North Carolina—Charlotte. Dr. Cox literally wrote the book on the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) and their efforts to erect monuments across the South, including Arlington National Cemetery.
In this interview we discuss the history of the UDC and the goals that they set out to achieve with this particular monument. We also discussed how the UDC understood reconciliation, which has been widely misinterpreted by the media and on social media.
I want to emphasize that we are not using this opportunity to convince viewers one way or the other as to whether the monument should be removed. Our goal is to share and explore the latest scholarship on the subject. In the end, it is up to you to decide what should be done with this and other monuments.
Dr. Cox has published two very important books on this subject that I highly recommend for any serious student of the Civil War and Civil War memory.
Dixie’s Daughters: The United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Preservation of Confederate Culture (University Press of Florida, 2003).
Purchase at: Amazon / UPF / IndieBound
No Common Ground: Confederate Monuments and the Ongoing Fight for Racial Justice (University of North Carolina Press, 2021)
Purchase at: Amazon / UNC / IndieBound
Thanks for watching.
Interpreting the Confederate Monument in Arlington National Cemetery: A Conversation With Karen Cox