Monumental harm : reckoning with Jim Crow era Confederate monuments / Roger C. Hartley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hartley, Roger C., author.

Contributor:

ProQuest ebook central.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Soldiers' monuments--Social aspects--Southern States.

Soldiers' monuments.

Collective memory--Social aspects--Southern States.

Collective memory.

Racism--Southern States.

Racism.

African Americans--Southern States--Social conditions.

African Americans.

History.

Monuments.

Social aspects.

Social conditions.

United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Monuments--Social aspects--Southern States.

United States.

Southern States--Race relations.

Southern States.

Race relations.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

polychrome

Place of Publication:

Columbia, South Carolina : University of South Carolina Press, [2021]

System Details:

text file

Summary:

A road map for addressing and resolving the debate surrounding Confederate monuments in the United States -- In recent years, the debate over the future of Confederate monuments has taken center stage and caused bitter clashes in communities throughout the American South. At the heart of the debate is the question of what these monuments represent. The arguments and counterarguments are formulated around sets of assumptions grounded in Southern history, politics, culture, and race relations. Comprehending and evaluating accurately the associated claims and counterclaims calls for a careful examination of facts and legal considerations relevant to each side's assertations. In Monumental Harm, Roger C. Hartley offers a road map to addressing and resolving this acrimonious debate. Although history and popular memory play a vital role in the discussion, there have been distortions of both parts. Monumental Harm reviews the fact-based history of the initial raising of these monuments and distinguishes it from the popular memory held by many Confederate-monument supporters. Hartley also addresses concerns regarding the potential erasure of history and the harm these monuments have caused the African American community over the years, as well as the role they continue to play in politics and power. The recent rise in White nationalism and the video-recorded murders of Black citizens at the hands of White police officers have led to nationwide demonstrations and increased scrutiny of Confederate monuments on public land. As injustice is laid bare and tempers flare, the need for a peaceful resolution becomes ever-more necessary. Monumental Harm offers a way to break the rhetorical deadlock, urging that we evaluate the issue through the lens of the U.S. Constitution while employing the overarching democratic principle that no right is absolute. Through constructive discourse and good-faith compromise, a more perfect union is within reach.

Contents:

Cover

MONUMENTAL HARM

Title

Copyright

Dedication

Contents

List of Illustrations

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

PHASE I. Act or Leave the Monuments Undisturbed?

1. History and Memory Distinguished

2. The Distortion-of-History Approach: The Cult of the Lost Cause

3. The Warping-of-History Approach: The Rise of Monument Mania

4. The Racial-Reckoning Approach: The Stereotyping and Erasure Functions of Confederate Monuments

5. Confederate Monuments and Contemporary Institutional Racism

PHASE II. The Disposition: Destroy, Contextualize, or Relocate the Confederate Monument?

6. The Case Against Monument Destruction

7. The Trouble with Contextualization

8. Relocation and Its Critics

PHASE III. Who Decides?

9. The Legal Framework Protecting Confederate Monuments

Conclusion

Cases Cited

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI Available via World Wide Web.

Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on January 05, 2021).

Other Format:

Print version: Hartley, Roger C.. Monumental harm

ISBN:

9781643361703

1643361708

Publisher Number:

40030284704

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.