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In Karen Cox’s Dixie’s Daughters: The United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Preservation of Confederate Culture, analyzes how the women of the United Daughters of the Confederacy have transformed into Confederate Mothers for future generations by instilling in them the false ideals of past generations, in order to immortalize the “Lost Cause” and the Old South through history, memorials, education, benevolence, and patriotism. They were able to accomplish this by attempting to mask the false beliefs through simply trying to remember their ancestors. The mask was exposed though as they were soon criticized for teaching children their version of the history of the Old South and the “Lost Cause”, playing the South out to be the victim in the Civil War, Reconstruction, and into the Twentieth century.

According to Historian Karen Cox, “monuments were intended to serve as a record of the South’s dedication to patriotic principles, principles white southerners believed they shared with the nation, including the defense of states’ rights”. The UDC believed what they were doing was right and thought their history was widely accepted by the American public; they were losing respect from the rest of the country by believing something that was not even true, that the Civil War was fought based solely for the defense of states’ rights and it had little to do with slavery. As time passed, these monuments became a purposeful intention to allow future generations to see and learn that, in the UDC’s opinion, the Confederacy fought for the South’s honor and although they lost the war, they believe they have upheld that honor. There were numerous monuments built at the turn of the twentieth century, sporadically placed throughout not only the South but also states such as Arizona and Montana. The UDC wanted to include these memorials in not only the South but also the states that had any contact with the Confederate army during the Civil War. When these monuments were unveiled, there was typically a large celebration including the, mainly white, citizens of the town where the monument had been built. These celebrations typically included music, an evening dance, food, streamers, and children singing traditional Dixie songs such as, The Bonnie Blue Flag marching song from the Civil War. These memorial celebrations became a very popular tradition and lead to popularity for both the Confederacy and the UDC. These monuments not only helped with membership for the UDC in order to allow more eligible women to learn more about their heritage and this organization, it also helped a great deal with education about the Confederacy. This became an indirect way the UDC was able to negatively influence the children in towns across the South and into other parts of America, through beginning to learn more about the Confederacy and seeing the way the UDC honored these veterans, by placing them on a high pedestal.

By masking the desire to immortalize the Confederacy and ensure future generations would never forget where they came, they stated phrases such as “lifting the curse of illiteracy” so that no one could fight them on the subject. They knew no one in the State of Alabama would go against them to bring pro-southern textbooks into schools because those who opposed this could be accused of not caring to rid the illiteracy problems within the state. Historian Karen Cox argues that the illiteracy of African American children was never even brought into discussion because their one and only focus was to the descendants of Confederate soldiers.

In keeping with the tradition of the Old South, the UDC kept traditional gender roles intact as American society continued to change after the Civil War and into the twentieth century. Through the Ladies Memorial Association and later the UDC, southern women wanted to honor their men through memorials, because they viewed their men as brave and strong, and many of these women did not want their traditional world to end. By being in an organization that valued conservative ideals and the Old South, men did not feel threatened when these women in the UDC held leadership positions, and it was not viewed as a rebellion. The UDC found it important to reflect ladylike qualities, and as Cox argues, each delegate was urged, “to uphold the reputation of southern women as high-toned, courteous, gentle-mannered ladies.”

Another very important time when white supremacy was being threatened the entire nation looked down upon the South was during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. When the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court case was handed down in 1954, many women within the UDC was outraged at the thought of schools no longer being segregated. Cox cites the United Daughters of the Confederacy Magazine, specifically an article published in 1957 criticizing Brown vs. Board of Education. Many members of both the UDC and SCV read this magazine and were influenced in their decisions about Brown vs. Board of Education and segregation by the words of not only a fellow member but also a judge. In the following month, the same magazine discussed and supported the Southern Manifesto, a document where one hundred representatives of Congress criticized the Supreme Court’s decision of Brown vs. Board of Education. This shows how the women were manipulated many groups of people by having a judge published in their magazine, they were able to maintain segregated schools because people would read and agree with what was put in their magazine.

Cox discusses that the UDC has not wavered in their traditional white supremacist and gender roles of the Old South ideals and because of this, many Americans look down upon them for being old-fashioned and racist. Some members of the UDC agree with this, knowing that supporting the Lost Cause also means supporting these ideals but there are also many members who simply feel it is important to the future of the South to remember where they have come from. It is time this organization to wake up and see the exact impact they are having on children of the South. These children do not deserve to spend their entire lives learning an incorrect version of history where the South was merely the victim for decades