Public History Play‐Acting After All: Commentary on a Confederate Battle Flag Exhibition in Virginia

Abstract

AbstractUsing a Confederate battle flag exhibit as the centre of discussion, this article examines the creation and implementation of an exhibition held in January 2020 around the history and public presentation of a divisive object. Purported to be a ‘community’‐driven project, the exhibition tried to balance different aims for different publics, never taking a direct position on the problem of the presence and use of Lost Cause ideology in the Commonwealth of Virginia, even in the midst of ever‐increasing recognition that Black Lives Matter. Although the exhibition was created and opened before the death of George Floyd in the spring of 2020, Virginia suffered a devastating loss in 2017 when the Unite the Right Rally appeared with tiki‐torches on the campus of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Ninety miles south, in Lynchburg, the city's public museum went forward with a Confederate flag exhibit despite protest from several board members and members of the public. The exhibit is a review in light of the events of 2020.