For those who are unaware, April is Confederate History Month in Mississippi. The very idea of celebrating the Confederacy is enough to enrage people disillusioned by the South’s “redneck racists,” and as a social liberal, it would stand to reason that I would hold the same sentiment. However, I cannot bring myself to hate this idea, because the idea of Confederate History Month is not necessarily a bigoted one.
People tend to make the Confederacy all about slavery. Those people would be correct in stating slavery was a major—if not most significant—facet of the Confederacy’s existence, but those who recognize Confederate History Month have a wealth of other things to focus their attention on in terms of being proud of their heritage. Opponents of this idea refuse to recognize this.
In response to Robert McDonnell, the governor of Virginia in 2010, introducing Confederate History Month in his state without the mention of slavery, Jeff Schweitzer of the Huffington Post said, “If slavery was not among the most ‘significant’ issues for Virginia, exactly what other state right was being violated by federal law leading to the Civil War? Does McDonnell even know the history of the war?”
Coming from someone who has zero interest in Confederate flags or Robert E. Lee Day, I still feel responses like this are completely unnecessary.
While I agree that the Confederacy was not the ideal role model, it represented a level of independence for the South that was never before reached and has not been reached since. It is a point of pride for some southerners because of the basis of its government and symbolism, not slavery.
Sure, there are almost definitely many people who celebrate it because of slavery, but automatically assuming the month-long holiday can only represent racism is short-sighted.
For the sake of argument, there are a myriad of potential benefits from having a month dedicated to the Confederacy. Considering this phenomenon includes “history” in the name, it would make sense to use the month to educate young people on the history of the Confederacy, much like we do in February with Black History Month.
Latria Graham from the Guardian said, “There is valuable information to be gleaned from the artifacts and letters left behind by Confederate soldiers. When we examine their routines and social customs as reinforced social habits, we can learn from their everyday interactions. It is important to know who they were, what they believed and why they wore the uniform.”
Do we hate communists because their regime is largely associated with Joseph Stalin? Do we vilify the ancient Greeks for their use of slavery? My point is that there is something good in almost anything, and we can learn from the Confederacy just as we can learn from anything else.
Finally, I believe that wanting to deny people the opportunity to celebrate their heritage is just wrong. Many southerners are directly descended from those in the Confederacy, and as I stated before, those people are usually proud of the South and what it represents.
Ultimately, what harm is there in having a Confederate History Month? It affects no one in a negative way, and it is not forced on anyone. What I have come to realize is I live in a state populated with people who care deeply about this issue—however, because this month is not literally hurting anyone, I prefer to leave it alone.
To be clear, I personally do not care for the Confederacy or its flag. I do not take pride in it, and I think their motives were awful in many ways. However, I do understand that things like this are not black and white.
While I could not care less about the Confederacy, I do care about not blindly attacking a group of people—Confederate History Month proponents—for their beliefs and heritage. I believe that if a state decides to have a Confederate History Month, the state is not simply endorsing slavery like many seem to think. For this reason, people should calm down a bit in their crusade against Confederate History Month, which only celebrates a long-dead idea.
