Thursday, January 1, 2009

Confederate Daughters - Indoctrination

Confederate Daughters: Coming of Age during the Civil War
By Victoria E. Ott
Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, 2008
ISBN 9780809328284

As I continue to read Confederate Daughters, I was fascinated by the discussion of the ways in which these girls were indoctrinated in the Confederate cause. Parents took an active role in educating their daughters in this regard. Churches defended secession and slavery. News of the war was provided at prayer meetings and other church gatherings. Schools engaged in promoting the causes of the Confederacy through classes using textbooks rewritten to reflect Confederate beliefs, assigned readings, and by equating the Confederate cause to the American revolution. The involvement of churches and schools in promoting a political cause seems unthinkable in today's world.

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