On September 26, Department of History Professor Kate Masur and history doctoral students participated in The Confederate Mound protest at Chicago’s Oak Woods Cemetery. The protest was part of “Civil War History: A Call to Action,” a nationwide, group demonstration organized by the Journal of the Civil War Era. The signs they held read, “This is a monument to white supremacy,” and had the hashtag #wewantmorehistory.
“We had two goals,” said Professor Kate Masur. “One was disrupting what’s called the ‘Lost Cause’ narrative, the idea that the Confederacy was this great, noble cause and that they weren’t really fighting for slavery but rather for states’ rights. We wanted to poke holes in that and tell a fuller story. We also emphasized aspects of African American history that are invisible on the landscape.
“We want to be a resource for people in trying to move this conversation forward and set the record straight. We’re trying to add more history. Who could object to that, right?”
Professor Kate Masur
Masur says that to understand racial injustice, people have to know U.S. history, but this history has not adequately been taught on the K-12 level.
Learn about the We Want More History initiative in the Northwestern Magazine story: The Reckoning Is Here – Northwestern faculty call on educators to teach the full context of American history.
Related media coverage on the “We want more history” initiative:
Amid the Monument Wars, a Rally for ‘More History’ – The New York Times
We want more history: A National Day of Action – Perspectives on History