Key & Peele on the Lost Cause and Civil War Memory

I’ve always admired this skit from the comedians Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, which first aired in 2012 at the height of the Civil War 150th commemoration. The skit opens in a camp, where Confederate reenactors are being addressed by their colonel. The speech is full Lost Cause and everyone has bought in until Key & Peele show up dressed as slaves. They brilliantly chose to depict slaves of the Lost Cause by emphasizing every racial stereotype imaginable.

Their participation in this scene served to remind audiences of how absurd it is to reenact much of anything related to the Civil War (especially Confederate soldiers) without acknowledging slavery.

This wasn’t entirely clear in 2012, though overall many of the most significant events of the Civil War 150th pushed audiences to face the complicated history and legacy of slavery and emancipation. Movies such as Lincoln, 12 Years a Slave, and Django Unchained also helped to recenter the history of slavery in popular memory.

This represented a significant shift in public memory of the Civil War compared with the Civil War centennial celebrations of the early 1960s.

Civil War reenacting, though in decline even in 2012, continues to suffer for lack of interest. Part of the problem is the difficulty recruiting younger members, but the events of the past few years have also proved problematic.

It’s become more and more difficult to wave the Confederate flag and dress as Confederate soldiers without having to address questions about slavery. It’s no longer acceptable to fall back on the tired trope of ‘Heritage, Not Hate’ or to draw one of those meaningless distinctions between what soldiers were fighting for v. the state.

The removal of hundreds of Confederate monuments and flags from public spaces over the past few years is also an acknowledgment that there can be no celebration or commemoration of the Confederacy without coming to terms with the history and legacy of slavery.

Looking back, one could make the case that Key & Peele had the last laugh.