Gettysburg Lecture Series – Museum Center

Lecture Night Three:

Mythology of the Lost Cause: The heroic Confederate Cause of Freedom: Lost War, Lost Honor Lost Identity. Refusing to accept defeat, the Old Confederacy would remain estranged from the Union for almost 100 years. Asserting a cause of States Rights instead of Slavery, southern states would systematically “re-write” the history of southern slavery as benevolent.

Memorializing Civil War Veterans: Exploring the literature, myths and written words of Gettysburg. The role of the public narrative in telling the stories of battle. Who was the designer and sculptor of Muskegon’s “Soldiers and Sailors Monument” in Hackley Park?

Freedom by the Pen: The Emancipation Proclamation. President Lincoln’s bold gamble of proclaiming freedom for all. The single act broadened the goals of the war and struck down an American social norm that had existed for over 250 years.