Memory in Black and White

Paul A. Shackel is professor and director of the Center for Heritage Resource Studies, Department of Anthropology, University of Maryland. He is the author of Personal Discipline and Material Culture, Culture Change and the New Technology, and Archaeology and Created Memory.

• Part 1 ForewordPart 2 PrefacePart 3 IntroductionChapter 4 Chapter 1: Contested Memories of the Civil WarChapter 5 Chapter 2: The John Brown Fort: Unwanted Symbol, Coveted IconChapter 6 Chapter 3: Southern Heritage and the Faithful Slave Monuments: The Heyward Shepherd MemorialChapter 7 Chapter 4: Saint-Gaudens' Shaw Monument: Redefining the Role of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer InfantryChapter 8 Chapter 5: Contradictions on the Landscape: Myth and Creation at Manassas National Battlefield ParkChapter 9 Chapter 6: Remembering Landscapes of ConflictPart 10 Epilogue: Approaches to Changing the Meaning of Commemoration

In this book, Paul Shackel accurately observes, 'Public memory is more a reflection of present political and social relations than a true reconstruction of the past.' Arguments over history today reflect deeply felt emotions about who we are as a society,who we have been, and where we think we should be headed. In an effort to parse out the inherent conflicts that have arisen over the remembering of history, Professor Paul Shackel focuses on the all important issue of race, and reminds us how race and racism have affected and continue to affect the popular presentation of the past and especially of the American Civil War. Memory in Black and White serves as a strong reminder of how ideas about race have influenced the preservation of places in the past and how it can affect, in both positive and negative ways, the interpretation of historic sites today. It is an important message for all of us who visit historic places, who are curious about the presentation of the past at historic sites and monuments, and who study the past/present dynamic in classrooms and public spaces. The case study approach taken here allows a detailed look at specific places where race and perceptions of race played a role in preserving and interpreting the past. By under