Reflection on “Landmarks of Power: Building a Southern Past, 1885-1915”
The article “Landmarks of Power: Building a Southern Past, 1885-1915” written by Catherine Bishir presents an argument about shaping of public memory at the turn of the twentieth century. Bishir says that the elite at the turn of the century took control of the state of North Carolina and formed a “redeemer” government that intentionally influenced public memory through monuments and architecture, replacing the gains of reconstruction with a return to white supremacy and esteem of the Confederate cause, showcasing their hopes for the future.
The argument that Bishir presents is solid and well structured. Her source base is varied and presents evidence from a variety of standpoints that capture the issues in question well so that she can use them in support of her thesis. The structure of her argument flows logically from the introduction of the issue to the concept of memorialization through monuments, which she connects to architecture and then brings in together. Bishir’s article also had some drawbacks that served to slightly impede her argument. She tended to use a large quantity of description throughout the article concerning things like the relevant architectural styles. This perhaps detracts from the amount of analysis that is contained in the article. The argument concerning architecture seemed to be weaker that concerning the monuments because the people of the South at that time may have just enjoyed the styles rather than been intentionally trying to change public memory with the construction of their homes. The study was also limited by the time in which is was written, so there is no way to address modern controversies that surround issues related to monuments, but this is not a limitation that the author could have addressed. Overall, Bishir’s article is good article with a solid argument. While there are some limitations that could have improved some areas of content, these do not majorly take anything away from the quality of the work. Reflection on “Yearning for Normalcy: Marriage and Gender in the Slaveholding Class During the Civil War” Tyler Litke’s article “Yearning for Normalcy: Marriage and Gender in the Slaveholding Class During the Civil War” presents a claim that the words of Southern women provide insight into how they felt regarding their husbands leaving for the Civil War. …show more content…
She argues that the breakdown of the paternalistic structure of Southern society disintegrated when the men left to fight in the war, and that the experiences of couples illuminates how women thought of and communicated about this change to their husbands. Litke’s work has many positive attributes of a solid historical argument. Her use of letters for drawing conclusions about the thoughts and feelings of Southern couples was exemplary. The interpretation of those letters and the inferred for the purposes of her argument makes it very strong because of the nature of the primary sources and supports her bold claim that the women wanted patriarchy (54). Furthermore, she moves from a broad discussion of Southern society and tensions to specific examples using the situations of the four couples that appropriately illustrate what she is describing. There were also a few potential concerns with this study that could have improved it. These concerns relate to the reliance on letters as the main source for primary evidence. While letters are excellent, they do not constitute a very varied source based in regards to the possibilities for types of sources. This, and the fact that only four sets of correspondence were used, leads to the possibility that conclusions made in this study could be overgeneralizations based on the experiences of a few Southern families. This was an exceptional article that was well written with a well developed argument, but perhaps she could have discussed a few other types of primary sources. Examining a lot of sets of correspondence is not the most practical solution for a single study, so perhaps future research could look at more couples and see if it yields the same findings. Reflection on “Unnatural Mother’: Race, Gender, and Infanticide in the Nineteenth-Century South” An article by Tyra Pearson entitled “Unnatural Mother’: Race, Gender, and Infanticide in the
The article “Landmarks of Power: Building a Southern Past, 1885-1915” written by Catherine Bishir presents an argument about shaping of public memory at the turn of the twentieth century. Bishir says that the elite at the turn of the century took control of the state of North Carolina and formed a “redeemer” government that intentionally influenced public memory through monuments and architecture, replacing the gains of reconstruction with a return to white supremacy and esteem of the Confederate cause, showcasing their hopes for the future.
The argument that Bishir presents is solid and well structured. Her source base is varied and presents evidence from a variety of standpoints that capture the issues in question well so that she can use them in support of her thesis. The structure of her argument flows logically from the introduction of the issue to the concept of memorialization through monuments, which she connects to architecture and then brings in together. Bishir’s article also had some drawbacks that served to slightly impede her argument. She tended to use a large quantity of description throughout the article concerning things like the relevant architectural styles. This perhaps detracts from the amount of analysis that is contained in the article. The argument concerning architecture seemed to be weaker that concerning the monuments because the people of the South at that time may have just enjoyed the styles rather than been intentionally trying to change public memory with the construction of their homes. The study was also limited by the time in which is was written, so there is no way to address modern controversies that surround issues related to monuments, but this is not a limitation that the author could have addressed. Overall, Bishir’s article is good article with a solid argument. While there are some limitations that could have improved some areas of content, these do not majorly take anything away from the quality of the work. Reflection on “Yearning for Normalcy: Marriage and Gender in the Slaveholding Class During the Civil War” Tyler Litke’s article “Yearning for Normalcy: Marriage and Gender in the Slaveholding Class During the Civil War” presents a claim that the words of Southern women provide insight into how they felt regarding their husbands leaving for the Civil War. …show more content…
She argues that the breakdown of the paternalistic structure of Southern society disintegrated when the men left to fight in the war, and that the experiences of couples illuminates how women thought of and communicated about this change to their husbands. Litke’s work has many positive attributes of a solid historical argument. Her use of letters for drawing conclusions about the thoughts and feelings of Southern couples was exemplary. The interpretation of those letters and the inferred for the purposes of her argument makes it very strong because of the nature of the primary sources and supports her bold claim that the women wanted patriarchy (54). Furthermore, she moves from a broad discussion of Southern society and tensions to specific examples using the situations of the four couples that appropriately illustrate what she is describing. There were also a few potential concerns with this study that could have improved it. These concerns relate to the reliance on letters as the main source for primary evidence. While letters are excellent, they do not constitute a very varied source based in regards to the possibilities for types of sources. This, and the fact that only four sets of correspondence were used, leads to the possibility that conclusions made in this study could be overgeneralizations based on the experiences of a few Southern families. This was an exceptional article that was well written with a well developed argument, but perhaps she could have discussed a few other types of primary sources. Examining a lot of sets of correspondence is not the most practical solution for a single study, so perhaps future research could look at more couples and see if it yields the same findings. Reflection on “Unnatural Mother’: Race, Gender, and Infanticide in the Nineteenth-Century South” An article by Tyra Pearson entitled “Unnatural Mother’: Race, Gender, and Infanticide in the