Memory in Black and White: Race, Commemoration, and the Post-Bellum Landscape

As a nation we bring many perspectives to our commemorative places and our ideas may change over time, especially on difficult topics like slavery and racism. Why a place is saved and how it is interpreted to visitors has much to do with our collective memory of the events that took place there. Using the skills of an archaeologist and a historian, Paul Shackel examines four well-known Civil War-era National Park sites and shows us how public memory shaped their creation and continues to shape their interpretation. Shackel shows us that 'public memory' is really 'public memories,' and interpretation may change dramatically from one generation to another as interpreters try to accommodate, or ignore, certain memories. Memory in Black and White is important reading for all who are interested in history and memory of landscapes, and will be especially useful to those involved in preserving and interpreting a controversial place. Visit the author's web page Visit the UMD Heritage Program web page

Table of Contents:
Part 1 Foreword Part 2 Preface Part 3 Introduction Chapter 4 Chapter 1: Contested Memories of the Civil War Chapter 5 Chapter 2: The John Brown Fort: Unwanted Symbol, Coveted Icon Chapter 6 Chapter 3: Southern Heritage and the Faithful Slave Monuments: The Heyward Shepherd Memorial Chapter 7 Chapter 4: Saint-Gaudens' Shaw Monument: Redefining the Role of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Chapter 8 Chapter 5: Contradictions on the Landscape: Myth and Creation at Manassas National Battlefield Park Chapter 9 Chapter 6: Remembering Landscapes of Conflict Part 10 Epilogue: Approaches to Changing the Meaning of Commemoration

About the Author :
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.

Review :
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 Shackel presents four case studies of commemorative Civil War sites and delivers powerful analyses of the social, political, regional and, above all, racst ideologies that generated and have sustained them... readers should embrace this book as an important step in understanding American politicized memory. One of America's most gifted historical archaeologists provides a masterful examination of the relationship between race and national commemoration. Shackel's insightful analysis of four case studies deftly illustrates the unequal way in which history and memory can be created, and brilliantly shows the way in which various constituencies can seek to control the way history is remembered. This important book demands a prominent place on the bookshelves of archaeologists, historians, site managers, museum specialists, and everyone concerned with the way in which history is presented. Shackel brings together history, anthropology, and archaeology in this must-read book that addresses a grievous wrong in the interpretation of the Civil War era. Valuable reading. . . to provoke challenging conceptual questions, as any good book should. 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 understanding how past and present generations have interpreted the past through the lens of race, practitioners of public history can better determine how historic sites should be interpreted to present and future generations. Shackel has identified a promising niche from which to contribute to this literature... Shackel has written a conscientious book that deserves sustained engagement from students of American history and education. Paul A. Shackel's thoughtful new volume adds to the discourse on collective memory by offering a quartet of provocative case studies on the role of race in the creation of four sites interpreted by the National Park Service. . . . will prove useful to beginning students in the field of public history.