Introduction & Thesis

When it comes to the elite women of the Confederacy, they were determined, relentless, and dedicated to preserving the antebellum lifestyle even more so than the men. This lifestyle included many strong beliefs and values as well as the institution of slavery. Although the woman's traditional role in the South was in the home and revolving around family and religious life, women all over the South adapted to a more public position as the Civil War progressed as well as after it ended, As they filled the more public positions, they took with them the same methods used in private womanly roles like instilling values in the youth and maintaining a certain image through a set of proclaimed values.

 

Following the war, the women along with Confederate men successfully created a Lost Cause narrative that they would use to indoctrinate the youth in the South and alter the public memory of the American Civil War. Overall, the effort was rather progressive for the Southern women but even the progressivism of their cause could not hide the racism that accompanied the biase narrative of the events. Women's memorial associations like the United Daughters of the Confederacy were able to succeed in instilling the Lost Cause narrative through impressive fundraising and lobbying throughout the United States even with their racist tendencies.

 

This website will compile research through imagery and video to argue that the United Daughters of the Confederacy created a private sector for elite, white women of the South to exercise their newfound public responsibilities in a comfortable manner which aligned with their traditional values and ideals. Not only were memorial groups a way for women to memorialize the Confederacy, but they were a way for women to more easily transition into the public sector as a unit.