CONFEDERATE SYMBOLS AND HISTORICAL MEMORY

Some Questions To Consider

Which articles and/or particular events associated with this discussion topic most interested you?  Why?

Why is the Confederate Flag such a contentious symbol?  Do you agree that it is a symbol that can have many different meanings?  What role does it play in today's popular culture and why do you think certain subcultural groups -- youths, truckers, bikers, for example -- have adopted the flag as a folk symbol?  How would you account for its occasional popularity outside the American South?

How would you respond to the Southern slogan "Heritage, Not Hate?"  Would you make any distinction between the public/governmental display of the Confederate Flag and its private display?  Is it a symbol that can ever be separated from a racial context?

What is the history of the Confederate Flag as a symbol and how would you compare and contrast that history with the history of Confederate monuments?

What most surprises you about the history of Confederate Monuments?

How would you compare and contrast contemporary controversies involving Confederate Monuments with those in Canada involving such individuals as John A. Macdonald, Lord Cornwallis, Egerton Ryerson, Captain James Cook, and Queen Victoria?

How can the history of and controversies involving Confederate symbols within the American military serve as an entry point into thinking about U.S. History?

William Faulkner: "The past is not dead; it is not even past."  To what extent are the debates about Confederate symbols really about the past and interpretations thereof?  Is this particular discussion topic an effective entry point into thinking about history or does it merely reflect contemporary culture wars and the struggle for power between different interest groups?