Confederacy – American History to 1877

April 30, 2014

Confederate Commercials

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The mockumentary “The Confederate States of America” was a fictional movie about an alternate history had the Confederates won the Civil War. In the movie, racism prevails and with that, the continuation of slavery. The movie was a satirical piece that was, although amusing, thought provoking. It addressed various events in history and continually portrayed the south as an oppressive force. The South would eradicate Native American culture, enslave Chinese labor workers, force the Jewish to leave the country, and create a “separate and unequal” world with Latin Americans. In an attempt to reunite the country, the South would even change history books by rewriting slaves as loyal servants and forcing Northerners to own slaves, something the Northerners would eventually appreciate.

What particularly struck me were the “commercials” in the film. These advertisements gave a glimpse of what modern life could be like. The ads consisted of job advertisements for unqualified doctors or “breeders” to treat slaves or for a police chase t.v. show called “Runaway.” The commercials included everyday products with names like “Sambo,” “Darky toothpaste,” and new revolutionized slave technology. Although these commercials appear to be greatly exaggerated, with the use of overt derogatory statements, it makes one wonders if certain aspects of these commercials would have been possible today. Like others have posted, I can’t help but wonder if I would find still find these commercials absurd and racists if I was raised in Confederate culture. I wonder if slave culture would have continued or if racism would be more prevalent then it is today. Even in contemporary culture where the Union won the war there are still modern commercials that are taken down because they are deemed to be prejudiced or insensitive. If Confederate beliefs had somehow influenced more legislation or history in the past, how much would it have changed society today? Would there be products, ads, and shows specifically targeting a race? One could claim that those do exist today.

As those below me have mentioned, the film is a mockumentary that is meant to be satirical and highly exagerating but parts of it are based on truths. Racism did clearly exist in the South and, unfortunately, does exist today. This film may have been about an alternative history but it forces one to think of modern culture today.

April 30, 2014

Cheap Laughs or Necessary Consideration?

Like my classmates who posted on the film below, I also was just struck by the extreme racism of The Confederate States of America. I think that Leslie brings up a good point that touches on the legitimate possibility that this racism pervades our society today. Although it is not as over as a TV advertisement for slaves, our society does in fact still have traces of racism and prejudice against people of color–as seen in the past few days in the NBA (L.A. Clippers owner, Donald Sterling, made racist comments that were leaked to the public).

I think we have to keep this whole film in perspective and keep in mind that it is a mockumentary. However, it is also vital to think about the likelihood of slavery still existing today if the Confederacy had won the Civil War. By following the same timeline of actual historical events, the film does establish the idea that certain events would have occurred differently had the Confederacy won. Economic turmoil in 1929 with the Great Depression was aided by a renewed Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Emily mentions that the attacks on Pearl Harbor happened on December 7, 1941 but in the alternate history, the C.S.A. attacks Japan on this date. It is silly to think that these attacks would have occurred on the same day as Pearl Harbor but it does beg the question as to what the role of our country would have been if the southern states had won.

On one hand I see the film as a low-budget attempt to get a quick buck out of cheap laughs and absurdity. The commercials featured in the mockumentary were quite ridiculous and the basic attention to detail seemed lacking at some points. However, I also think that the film touches on certain aspects that are important to consider. As Leslie asks in his post, what if the Confederacy had won? Maybe too obviously seen, this is the central question to be analyzed. Would certain events have even happened and moreover would slavery still exist today? I would like to hope that slavery would not exist and that a movement would have occurred after a hypothetical Confederate victory. However, we as historians have difficulty interpreting the “what if” and can only draw upon what did happen. This may be the key reason why the film seems so ridiculous and over the top.

April 30, 2014

What if?

In his post max talked about the extreme racism that was displayed in the mockumentary, The Confederate States of America. Many of our classmates also expressed feelings of shock in response to the extreme advertisements for items like an electronic device to help people find their runaway slaves exist.

While it is EXTREMELY important not to demonize the south, and southerners when assessing history, as i watched the film, i began to ask my self what if? In looking at the film, the viewer is bombarded with extreme examples of racism that seem out of this world. But as Max also noted, it is not as if racism does not exist today. Just because it may not be as blatant as an eBay for buying slaves, does not mean it isn’t there. this is a point I would like to strongly make in order to emphasize the necessity of not demonizing the South, and not over glorifying the north. But again, my mind wanders to the question what if?

If the confederacy had won, is this really what the Confederate States of America would look like? practicality says no. but that is a practicality based on assumptions that come from the America we live in today. For example, even though there is covert racism today, I think most people I know would be extremely uncomfortable if they heard a white person earnestly and hatefully call a black person a nigger to their face. But in the world where the confederacy won, would this be an anomaly?

Which leads to another question, would slavery still exist? And if not, what would America look like? As we said in class, slavery may very well have been facing its end anyway. The system was growing economically efficient. But, as we know, just because the institution has ending, does not mean its effects do as well. Because of the way in which slavery ended, we as a country were set on a certain path in terms of race. I think racism would exist either way, but I honestly think the quality of life (and i mean quality based on a criteria of dignity) would have been worse for African Americans in the US had the Confederacy won. Change, as history shows us, would have come. At some point or another rights would have been won. But how long would it have been. Surely not in the 1950s…

April 30, 2014

Changes to the Original

The movie C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America portrays America with the same basic historical timeline as the one we know today but with many historical changes. As Max points out, this film was meant to be a more humorous take on the Confederacy, but it also shows the racism existing in the South during and after the war. The movie takes the stereotypical racist South to the extreme, having all of the subsequent decisions of the United States as exclusive and racist.

The most surprising changes in well-known historical events were the Great Depression and World War II. When the stock market crashed in 1929, according to the Confederate States of America, in order to get out of the depression the Confederate States revived the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. The Trans-Atlantic slave trade legally ended in the early nineteenth century in the United States, and it is surprising that in this fictitious racist country, the Confederate States decide to reopen this trade. The opening of the slave trade is followed by the start of Hitler’s reign in Germany and the beginning of World War II. In this alternate history, the Confederate States of America do not intervene in the war with Germany but instead begin a war with Japan. The Confederate States generally agree with Germany’s plan, but believe that the Japanese are weak due to their small structure. On December 7, 1941, the day we know for the attacks on Pearl Harbor, the Confederate States attack Japan. Both of these events are surprising changes based on the racism of the Confederate States.

The Confederate States of America portrays a different America than what we know but with the same historical events. Although we will never know if America would have been like what is shown if the Confederacy won, this movie shows the extreme of what could have been. I don’t completely agree with this extreme view because I think that even if the Confederacy had won, slavery would have been eradicated eventually based on the economy or a slave uprising. But the movie provides a historical take on what could have been if the Union failed to win the war.

April 29, 2014

The Accuracies in “The Confederate States of America”

Much like the Ask A Slave series, it is very clear that the Confederate States of America was also produced partially for its entertainment and comedic values. This “mockumentary” plays up the stereotype of the South as being a wholly racist region of the country, and depicts the way our country would have turned out today had the Confederacy won the Civil War. Despite its partly humorous intention, one aspect of the film that was particularly shocking to me was the series of commercials for extremely racist products that were advertised. While some of the products were simply made up, the end credits of the film note that some of the more racist ones had actual historical origins, giving their inclusion an overall sense of meaning.

An example of such a product that was advertised in the film was for Gold Dust Washing Powder, a cleaning aid sold in the United States from the 1880s to the 1930s. In the film, the product was advertised with two African American babies coming through and cleaning a household. Additionally, the commercial’s narrator used phrases like, “Are you a slave to housework? Let the Gold Dust twins emancipate you from the burdens of cleaning.” The implied image of two African American children coming to clean your house is an overt example of the racism inherent in the advertisement. Additionally, the use of the words “slave” and “emancipate” suggest a further connection between the product and the institution of slavery.

While I was initially appalled by advertisements like this one, I was even more shocked to learn at the end of the film that “both black children and whites in blackface were cast as Goldie and Dustie in popular Gold Dust Washing Powder advertisements.” The inclusion of these facts at the end of the film serve to justify the ridiculous claims the film makes about life in the U.S. after a Confederate victory. Moreover, it shows that we should not think of the Civil War as the end of racism and prejudice in the U.S., as these advertisements exhibit the many forms of discrimination that have endured over time. Additionally, as Emma highlighted in her blog post, the film notes some of the other historical accuracies of the Confederacy’s post Civil War plans. One example of these was the idea to expand the Confederacy’s influence into the Caribbean and South America to create a tropical empire to fuel the South’s plantation-based economy. The racist advertisements and historically accurate plans for the Confederacy’s victory suggest that despite some of the film’s ridiculous claims, it is a valuable narrative in that it brings to light some important facts about the Civil War era and complicates the history that many Americans take for granted.

April 14, 2014

The Fight for Social Inclusion: Irish Immigrants in the South

Irish immigrants were poor and used to subjugation by class status when they immigrated to the United States. The ones who ended up in the south and, specifically in this case, in Charleston seemed to rally around the battle-cry of the confederacy for reasons that had nothing to do with slavery or slave owners. This article by Joyce clearly states that these poor Irish could not own slaves, but they were above influence of powerful slave owners or other social powers which some have suggested pushed the Irish into confederate battalions. They were not socially inept or pushed around; they had institutions such as the theater, the church, social clubs (Hibernian), as well as nationalist newspapers as social outlets. They regularly critiqued the wealthy upper class of Charleston through these outlets and strengthened their nationalist identity as well as their connection to their new found home.

Instead, they became “dutiful sons” of their new country willingly and united, Joyce claims. But the question still remains why, as the elite classes bullying them into joining was shown to be invalid. It seems as if the Irish-American Immigrants were fighting for the south to secure autonomy, assert their place in society and their right to be contributing members of the southern way of life. This is a narrative that is told in many ways in many times, where a subjugated group of people rise up to fight a war in order to justify their place in society. Of course this happens with African Americans in American History as well, both in the civil war and onwards. This idea can even be extended to slavery at the time, as Ela pointed out in her last blog that we can see slave resistance through Lizzie Mae as a form of assertion to their humanity and independence.

The poor Irish-American Immigrants joining the confederacy is an extremely crucial point for civil war history. Slave owners could not have fought the war or even fielded an army. The persons who plantation owners and mass slave traders could not have realistically fought union powers. This I think may foreshadow a growing narrative of poorer, subjugated and socially devalued men joining the ranks of the confederacy not necessarily to make money off of slavery but to assert their ability to belong, their strength and their independence to the elite of the time, something which seems to be an unfortunate motif in wartime history.