The Lost Cause Summary

The UDC was one such group that historian David Blight believes was fighting for control of historical interpretation during what he calls the second era of the Lost Cause. If there is any one point by the United Daughters of the Confederacy that displayed their support of the Lost Cause, Caroline Janney provides the example with the women’s intent to commemorate the faithful slaves “when they pressed for the erection of a national faithful slave monument.” Janney is showing how the South tried to impart a belief that this type of monument would show how slave owners valued and respected the slave. Even though the women avoided discussing race, Janney explains, the women went out of their way to praise the African Americans but only in the
sense of the loyalty they had towards their former masters. Hague continues the assault on the UDC by quoting from the 1938 UDC annual convention that mandated “the children of the South shall be taught the true history of the South; to honor and perpetuate the memories and the deeds and high principles of their Confederate ancestors; to assist in protecting and marking historical places of the Southern Confederacy.”
Through their study of women and the Lost Cause, Janney and Blight leave no doubt about the racial reasons for the Lost Cause. When the women’s groups memorialize the South, there exists the racial stereotype of the loyal African American to his master or former master. This is emphasized through their historical examples as well as interpretations of the sources they used.