Class Year
2016
Document Type
Student Research Paper
Date of Creation
Fall 2015
Department 1
History
Abstract
The Civil War Centennial celebrations fell short of a great opportunity in which Americans could reflect on the legacy of the Civil War through the racial crisis erupting in their nation. Different groups exploited the Centennial for their own purposes, but only the African Americans and civil rights activists tried to emphasize the importance of emancipation and slavery to the memory of the war. Southerners asserted states’ rights in resistance to what they saw as a black rebellion in their area. Northerners reflected back on the theme of reconciliation, prevalent in the seventy-fifth anniversary of the war. Unfortunately, those who had the most power to make an impact, government officials like the President and other Governors, tread lightly over the civil rights movement and instead focused on uniting a nation over anti-communism and Cold War sentiment. Fortunately, fifty years later, our nation has begun to recognize the real cause of the Civil War, but the “unfinished work” is not done.
Copyright Note
This is the author's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution.
Recommended Citation
Sutter, Megan A., "The "Unfinished Work:" The Civil War Centennial and the Civil Rights Movement" (2015). Student Publications. 402.
https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/student_scholarship/402
Included in
African American Studies Commons, Cultural History Commons, Military History Commons, Peace and Conflict Studies Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Public History Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Social History Commons, United States History Commons
Comments
This paper was written for Professor Michael Birkner's course, HIST 349: The United States Since 1945, Fall 2015.