The Lost Cause in the Golden State: Confederate Memory in California

Dublin Core

Title

The Lost Cause in the Golden State: Confederate Memory in California

Description

The Lost Cause in the Golden State: Confederate Memory in California is a collection that focuses on how "Lost Cause" narrative not only has preoccupied the South but has influenced the West Coast as well. Twenty-first century California is often associated with being a blue, Democratic, and liberal state, but this masks a much more conservative past, especially in southern California, where many supporters of the Confederacy settled after the Civil War. The items in this collection examine Confederate monuments and memorials located throughout California. These range from the Robert E. Lee Giant Sequoia to the Jefferson Davis Highway plaque. Although in recent years many of these memorials have been removed, this collection presents the history of each item as a historical resource.

Contributor

Monique Garcia, Art Sotelo, Sergio Sifuentes, Sean Ghafourian, Grislean Palacios, and Madison Hardrick

Identifier

History 402A 2020-2023

Coverage

California

Collection Items

Confederate Monument at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Los Angeles
On June 3, 1925, the Confederate Monument Association of Los Angeles (CMALA), together with the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), unveiled the Confederate memorial at the Hollywood Cemetery. The function of the stone marker was to honor and…

Confederate Memorial at the Santa Ana Cemetery, Santa Ana
The Confederate Monument at Santa Ana Cemetery was erected in 2004 by Santa Ana Mayor Gordon Bricken and members of the Orange County Sons of Confederate Veterans. The monument was a 9-foot-tall, 7-ton granite rectangular structure created to honor…

Robert E. Lee Giant Sequoia
The giant Sequoia is a marvel of nature. These are some of the largest trees in the world and they reside in Kings Canyon National Park in California. Each of these grand giants is named for historical figures. In this region, called Ulysses S. Grant…

Jefferson Davis Highway (JDH) Plaque, Horton Plaza Park, San Diego
Jefferson Davis Highway (JDH), named after the Confederacy’s first and only president from 1861-1865, was once meant to be a coast-to-coast highway from Arlington, Virginia to San Diego, California. Construction began in 1913 and was funded by the…

Confederate Soldiers Memorial, Mount Hope Cemetery, San Diego
The Mount Hope Cemetery Memorial represented the continuation of the Lost Cause legacy as it stretched into the Golden State. The memorial continued this legacy by honoring the soldiers who fought to preserve slavery. It resides in San Diego,…

Robert Selden Garnett Marker, Monterey, California
In Monterey, California, a monument to Confederate General Robert Selden Garnett found a home for over 60 years. This controversial marker of the "Lost Cause," erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) with the support of the city's…
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