The False Image of History Project

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

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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

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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:

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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:

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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:

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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:

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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.

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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:

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In 1961, Spotsylvania County, Virginia issued a new license plate design depicting the Confederate battle flag. Read "THE SAME DEGREE OF PATRIOTISM AND FIERCENESS AS ONE PROTESTS AND REJECTS THE NAZI SWASTIKA": AUTO-TAGS IN SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY, VIRGINIA, here:

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Already by the late nineteenth century, Black papers in Minnesota's twin cities had begun to criticize veneration of the Confederacy.

Read NOTHING QUITE SO DEAD AS AN IDEA TRIED AND FOUND WANTING": CRITICISMS OF CONFEDERATE COMMEMORATION FROM THE TWIN CITIES:

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Read about Black journalists' criticism of the Stone Mountain monument--a Mt. Rushmore for leaders of the Confederacy--since 1921 in "THE SOUTH BELIEVES IN HUMAN SLAVERY": BLACK JOURNALISTS CRITICIZE STONE MOUNTAIN CONFEDERATE MONUMENT available here:

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Long after the Civil War, the unofficial Confederate anthem "Dixie" was popular at public events in the South. Read how Black journalists documented the protest movement against it in "AND OTHER TUNES DEAR TO THE HEARTS OF RACISTS": PLAYING "DIXIE" here:

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Read about how Black journalists in Seattle developed a powerful voice against Confederate commemoration!

"THE MEMORY OF THE DAMNABLE DAYS OF THE PAST": BLACK JOURNALISTS IN SEATTLE ATTACK CONFEDERATE COMMEMORATION FROM THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

Available here:

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When Virginia set a plan in motion to put up a statue of Robert E. Lee in Statuary Hall at the US Capitol in the early 20th century, Black journalists pushed back.

Read about the backlash in "GLORIFYING OUR WORST ENEMIES": THE LEE STATUE IN THE CAPITOL, here:

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In the aftermath of the massacre at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, new calls were raised to remove the South Carolina state house flag. Read "A SYMBOL OF INJUSTICE": REMOVING THE CONFEDERATE FLAG AT THE SOUTH CAROLINA STATEHOUSE:

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In the early 20th c, the United Daughters of the Confederacy sponsored donations to highlight the links between Robert E. Lee and his alma mater, West Point Military Academy. Read how Black journalists responded in GRASPING AT WILL-O'-WISPS AT WEST POINT, here:

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20th-century political activist and journalist Roscoe Simmons was a brilliant wordsmith who sharply attacked all efforts to glorify the Confederacy.

Read "SUPPOSE YOU REALLY KNEW YOUR STORY?": ROSCOE SIMMONS, EVOCATIVE CRITIC OF CONFEDERATE COMMEMORATION here

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Read about the complex reactions in the Black press to plans by pro-Confederate factions to build a monument to Black "mammies" in the nation's capital, here:

"BEWARE THE GREEKS, EVEN THOUGH BEARING GIFTS": EFFORTS TO BUILD A NATIONAL "MAMMY" MONUMENT IN D.C.

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In 1946, white radio host Drew Pearson used his platform, in concert with Black journalists eager to amplify his message, to mock the Ku Klux Klan.

Read about their war of words in

"HITLERIAN DISEASE": TAKING THE FIGHT AGAINST THE KLAN TO STONE MOUNTAIN:

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Pittsburgh Courier correspondent J. A. Rogers took a strong stance against postage stamps honoring Robert E. Lee in 1937, calling white Southern support for Lee "sheer obstinacy." Read "THE FOREMOST APOSTLE OF SLAVERY": J. A. ROGERS ON THE 1937 LEE STAMPS here:

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Read about how an effort to rename the Jefferson Davis Highway in 2002 was covered in the Los Angeles Sentinel and the New Pittsburgh Courier in "NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF SYMBOLS": THE JEFFERSON DAVIS HIGHWAY IN WASHINGTON STATE here:

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Georgia inserted the Confederate battle emblem into its state flag in response to Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. Black journalists watched the fight to change it closely.

Read "CHANGE THE SYMBOL THAT CHURNS UP HATE": THE GEORGIA STATE FLAG CONTROVERSY:

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