Title
A Battle Over 20th Century Textbooks: How the Civil War is Still Fought in American Classrooms
College - Author 1
College of Liberal Arts
Department - Author 1
History Department
Degree Name - Author 1
BA in History
Date
3-2021
Primary Advisor
Sarah Bridger, College of Liberal Arts, History Department
Abstract/Summary
This paper analyzed the emergence of Lost Cause history textbooks in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Following the Civil War, Confederate societies such as the United Daughters of the Confederacy and United Confederate Veterans had a vested interest in positively portraying the South. From 1890-1930, Confederate societies attempted to expel textbooks that spoke unfavorably of the Confederacy, and instead encouraged states all around the country to follow stringent rules of how to discuss historical events. This research was led by material written by these societies and the textbooks they endorsed or expelled, in order to analyze the origins and implementation of these history textbooks. I argue that Confederate societies like the UDC and UCV influenced individual books, historical memory, and the textbook market in a way that enabled textbooks to be vulnerable to outside lobbying campaigns. Their tireless efforts, coupled with a Union seeking to heal its Civil War wounds, led to significant influence and subsequent changes within these books.
URL: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/histsp/58