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How The United Daughters of the Confederacy Literally Changed History
These Southern Belles single-handedly erected Confederate monuments and taught southern children that slavery was benevolent
The heated debate concerning the preservation of Confederate monuments continues to rage across the country, with some protestors taking matters into their own hands by either defacing the statues or tearing them down altogether. President Trump has vowed to sign an executive order to protect the statues, threatening that offenders would be looking at “long-term jail sentences.” Those in favor of their preservation say they do so in an effort to “help people understand an important part of America’s history.”
This is the most common argument I’ve heard surrounding the monuments; one that often extends to the discussion of the relevance of the Confederate flag. I live in Georgia where these flags are commonplace and at least 174 public spaces house statues to commemorate the Confederacy. Since those who defend their presence claim to do so for the preservation of history, I think it’s important to discuss how the monuments came to be in the first place.
The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) was established in 1894 by Anna Davenport Raines of Savannah, Georgia, and…
