The Civil War in American Life, 1929-1941

FAIN: FT-58463-11

Nina Silber
Boston University (Boston, MA 02215-1300)

Drawing on scholarship that examines historical memory, this project considers the way Americans worked to reconstruct a narrative about their Civil War past in the midst of the worst economic crisis in the nation's history. Indeed, the Civil War was invoked, remembered, and depicted in a remarkable number of ways in this decade, clearly suggesting that it was an event that resonated strongly in this moment of social upheaval. It could be heard in the powerful language of workers who wrote about their sense of economic enslavement and desperation; in the frequent re-imagining of Abraham Lincoln--by writers, FDR, as well as African American activists--as a plain, homespun president and tireless advocate for civil rights; in seventy-fifth anniversary celebrations of such events as the Battle of Gettysburg and the Emancipation Proclamation; or in the reconstruction analogies, especially as they were invoked by southern politicians to express their new demands for "home rule".

Associated Products

"Abraham Lincoln and the Political Culture of New Deal America" (Article)
Title: "Abraham Lincoln and the Political Culture of New Deal America"
Author: Nina Silber
Abstract: This essay explores the prominent imaginary space occupied by Abraham Lincoln during the years of the Great Depression and the New Deal. With Franklin Roosevelt's assumption of power, Lincoln no longer appeared as a bland symbol of reconciliation but as a figure firmly associated with federal power and, to some extent, with racial justice. He was, moreover, at the center of political contests in these years between anti-communists and those associated with the Popular Front. With the outset of World War II, Lincoln assumed a new role in symbolizing the US struggle to promote democracy in its fight with global dictatorship.
Year: 2015
Primary URL: https://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/journal_of_the_civil_war_era/v005/5.3.silber.html
Primary URL Description: Links to the Journal of the Civil War Era through Project Muse
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Journal of the Civil War Era
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press

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