Date of Award
8-2018
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
History
Committee Member
Dr. Paul Anderson, Committee Chair
Committee Member
Dr. Rod Andrew Jr.
Committee Member
Dr. Vernon Burton
Abstract
This thesis examines how white southerners conceptualized Reconstruction from 1890 to 1941, with an emphasis on the era between the First and Second World Wars. By analyzing Reconstruction as it appears in political rhetoric, professional and amateur history, and southern literature, the thesis demonstrates how white southerners used the ‘tragic’ story of Reconstruction to respond to developments in their own time. Additionally, this thesis aims to illuminate the broader cultural struggle over Reconstruction between the First and Second World Wars. This thesis ultimately argues that the early revisionism in Reconstruction historiography was part of a broader reassessment of Reconstruction that took place in southern culture after the First World War.
Recommended Citation
Patterson, Travis, "The Reconstruction Trope: Politics, Literature, and History in the South, 1890-1941" (2018). All Theses. 2917.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/2917