"Much More than a Song": The 1935 Campaign for a National " Dixie" Memorial
Abstract
This article explores the ultimately unsuccessful 1935 campaign by Kentuckian Mary Darby Fitzhugh to erect a national memorial to honor the song "Dixie" and its Ohio-born composer, Daniel Decatur Emmett. Locating Fitzhugh's campaign in the larger effort by Confederate heritage groups to promote a southern perspective on the Civil War, it examines why and how proponents of the Lost Cause came to embrace both the song "Dixie" and blackface performer Dan Emmett as symbols of sectional reconciliation. The story of the "Dixie" memorial also highlights the work of Confederate heritage groups outside the South and the ways in which their efforts shaped the commemorative culture in Emmett's hometown of Mount Vernon, Ohio.
Repository Citation
Romano, Renee C. 2024. "'Much More than a Song': The 1935 Campaign for a National 'Dixie' Memorial." Pacific Historical Review 93(3): 361-387.
Publisher
University of California Press
Publication Date
9-14-2024
Publication Title
Pacific Historical Review
Department
History
Additional Department
Comparative American Studies
Document Type
Article
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1525/phr.2024.93.3.361
Notes
Additional Departments:
Africana Studies
Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies
Keywords
Historical memory, Public monuments, Confederate heritage, "Dixie", Daniel Decatur Emmett, Mary Darby Fitzhugh, United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC)
Language
English
Format
text
