The False Image of History Project

YouTube video by LibraryofVa Nationalism & Cosmopolitanism in the Creation of Richmond’s Confederate Monuments

Did you miss Donovan Schaefer's virtual talk at the Library of Virginia last week? You can see the whole presentation and audience Q&A here--including a discussion of the role of the False Image of History project in telling the history of Confederate commemoration.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1UI...

Enjoyed doing this write-up of some work I did during my Virginia Public Humanities Fellowship residency at the Library of Virginia!

My finding: white Southerners putting up Confederate monuments wanted to plug in to an intern'l art world network to redeem the prestige of the fallen Confederacy.

London, Paris, Richmond: The Cosmopolitan Sensibility of Lee Monument Confederate monuments are often defended on the grounds that they provide an educational function. Both enthusiasts and critics of the Confederacy who take this position see Confederate monuments as a...

Our PI Donovan Schaefer has a new blog post up on the Library of Virginia's "Uncommonwealth" series, discussing how the False Image of History Project fits in with archival research into Confederate commemorative societies.

uncommonwealth.virginiamemory.com/blog/2025/09...

Manuscript submitted for review!

95,000 words. 48 chapters. 4 years of work.

Extremely excited to be bringing this into the world with my brilliant collaborators Olivia Haynie and @justinseward.bsky.social!

Coming soon to a library near you: The False Image of History Project book!

We're thrilled to announce that the False Image of History project will be published as a book as part of the Reconstructing America series at Fordham University Press @fordhampress.bsky.social!

The book manuscript has been submitted to FUP for review and will be published late next year. And of course, our essays at falseimage.pennds.org are still available!

@upennrels.bsky.social
@sas.upenn.edu
@pricelab.bsky.social

The book will feature improved and expanded versions of the articles on our website, brand new chapters on newspapers, authors, and monuments, as well as expanded historical and methodological sections surveying the background of the Black press and our approach to building our database.

Coming soon to a library near you: The False Image of History Project book!

We're thrilled to announce that the False Image of History project will be published as a book as part of the Reconstructing America series at Fordham University Press @fordhampress.bsky.social!

What Black journalists covering Confederate monuments taught me about fighting antisemitism today Black journalists chronicling the afterlife of the Confederacy provide a framework to, as one wrote, 'historicize the dynamics of oppression.'

Extremely proud of my former student and False Image of History Project @falseimage.bsky.social collaborator Olivia Haynie, who has written this excellent piece on the comparison between Nazism and Confederate commemoration for her new column at The Forward @forward.com

forward.com/culture/7669...

RELS alumna Olivia Haynie has written this column for The Forward about her time working with Prof. Schaefer's False Image of History Project.

What Black journalists covering Confederate monuments taught me about fighting antisemitism today Black journalists chronicling the afterlife of the Confederacy provide a framework to, as one wrote, 'historicize the dynamics of oppression.'

Researcher Olivia Haynie has written about her time working on the False Image of History Project and what it taught her about comparisons between Confederate commemoration and Nazism for her latest column in The Forward @forward.com.

forward.com/culture/7669...

Stay tuned for more exciting updates about the False Image of History Project, coming soon!

YouTube video by LibraryofVa Virginia Humanities Fellow Donovan Schaefer Introduces the "False Image of History" Website

Curious what the False Image of History Project is all about?

Here's an overview with project leader Donovan Schaefer on the origins of the project (and the meaning of the name!) as part of a Virginia Humanities Public Humanities Fellowship at the Library of Virginia.

@pricelab.bsky.social

YouTube video by LibraryofVa Virginia Humanities Fellow Donovan Schaefer Introduces the "False Image of History" Website

Very grateful to the Library of Virginia for producing this video! A terrific overview of the research I did with them during my Public Humanities Fellowship in Richmond earlier this year as part of The False Image of History Project @falseimage.bsky.social.

Feel free to browse our posts to get a preview of the journalists we've been studying. Or go to our website to explore our interactive map!

falseimage.pennds.org

Thank you for following along with the False Image of History Project as we explore the history of Black journalism's powerful criticisms of Confederate commemoration going back to Reconstruction!

And stay tuned! An exciting announcement about the future of @falseimage.bsky.social is coming soon!

The Emotional Politics of Public Memory - Virginia Humanities As part of his 2024–2025 Virginia Humanities Public Humanities Fellowship, Dr. Donovan Schaefer is digging deep into the emotional and political power of Confederate monuments in Virginia.

Really enjoyed doing this interview about the research for my Public Humanities Fellowship at the Library of Virginia this month!

Got a chance to discuss @falseimage.bsky.social, too.

virginiahumanities.org/2025/05/qa-d...

The Omaha Guide wrote a pair of articles in the 1930s on the topic of Confederate commemoration, both of which focused on gender. Read more here:

"The Women Keep Alive Our Differences": The Omaha Guide's View of Southern Ladies' Memorial Associations

falseimage.pennds.org/essay/%E2%80...

Black journalists paid close attention to veneration of "relics" of Jefferson Davis and alerted readers to the consequences of glorification of the former Confederate leader. Read more here:

"The Cause of A Defeated Man": Relics and Shrines of Jefferson Davis

falseimage.pennds.org/essay/%E2%80...

Although a Northern paper, the New Jersey Sentinel was extremely concerned with the tide of Confederate veneration in the South already on the rise in the Reconstruction era.

Read more about the Sentinel here:

falseimage.pennds.org/essay/%E2%80...

The Black-led Carolina Times focused much of its criticism during the 20th century on the veneration of the Confederate flag.

"Symbols of Racial Inequality": The Carolina Times Covers Flag Controversies in the Late Civil Rights Era

falseimage.pennds.org/essay/%E2%80...

The Black-run Dallas Express published for almost 80 years, from 1893 to 1970. Their coverage including an ongoing campaign of criticism of Confederate commemoration.

"Roost Right on the Ankles of Congress": The Dallas Express and Confederate Commemoration

falseimage.pennds.org/essay/%E2%80...

Black papers were criticizing the Confederate battle flag flying over Alabama's state capitol at least as early as the 1920s. Read more here:

“Equivalent to Flying the Flag of Adolf Hitler Over Israel”: The Confederate Battle Flag Atop Alabama’s Capitol

falseimage.pennds.org/essay/%E2%80...

The Baltimore Afro-American--the longest running African-American owned newspaper--frequently spoke out against Confederate commemoration.

Read “KEEP YOUR EYES ON THOSE CONFEDERATE FLAGS!”: The Baltimore Afro-American as Critic of Confederate Commemoration

falseimage.pennds.org/essay/%E2%80...

Starting in the 1980s, Black journalists documented split reactions to Confederate elements in the Mississippi state flag within the Black community.

"Crush that Nostalgic Yearning for the Lost White Cause": The Campaign to Revise the Mississippi State Flag

falseimage.pennds.org/essay/%E2%80...

While most Black papers took uncompromising stances against white Southerners' efforts to create "loyal slave" and "mammy" monuments in the early 20th century, the Colorado Statesman offered a nuanced assessment. Read more about the Statesman's analysis:

falseimage.pennds.org/essay/%E2%80...

In 1993, an incident of Confederate flag-waving at a school in Winston-Salem, NC, led to petitions to ban the flag. White students in turn petitioned to prohibit symbols representing Malcolm X. Read about Black journalists' detailed coverage, here:

falseimage.pennds.org/essay/compar...

Read about how the Black press covered the NAACP boycott of South Carolina in the late 1990s in "PUSH AMERICA BACK FROM THE BRINK OF SENSELESS TRIBALISM": THE NAACP RESPONSE TO THE CONFEDERATE BATTLE FLAG AT THE SOUTH CAROLINA CAPITOL, here:

falseimage.pennds.org/essay/the-na...

Some claim that criticism of Confederate commemoration is a recent phenomena. Our research shows otherwise. Less than a decade after the Civil War, Black journalists were already reporting on Confederate memorialization and the dangers of whitewashing history.

falseimage.pennds.org/essay/early-...

The Ku Klux Klan's revival in the early 20th century was often linked by Black journalists to Georgia's Stone Mountain--and the long-term efforts to convert it into a colossal Confederate monument.

Read more in STONE MOUNTAIN AND THE RESURRECTION OF THE KLAN:

falseimage.pennds.org/essay/the-bi...