Clemson University TigerPrints All Theses Theses 8-2018 The Reconstruction Trope: Politics, Literature, and History in the South, 1890-1941 Travis Patterson Clemson University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses Recommended Citation Patterson, Travis, "The Reconstruction Trope: Politics, Literature, and History in the South, 1890-1941" (2018). All Theses. 2917. https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/2917 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses at TigerPrints. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Theses by an authorized administrator of TigerPrints. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. THE RECONSTRUCTION TROPE: POLITICS, LITERATURE, AND HISTORY IN THE SOUTH, 1890-1941 A Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of Clemson University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts History by Travis Patterson August 2018 Accepted by: Dr. Paul Anderson, Committee Chair Dr. Rod Andrew Jr. Dr. Vernon Burton ABSTRACT This thesis examines how white southerners conceptualized Reconstruction from 1890 to 1941, with an emphasis on the era between the First and Second World Wars. By analyzing Reconstruction as it appears in political rhetoric, professional and amateur history, and southern literature, the thesis demonstrates how white southerners used the ‘tragic’ story of Reconstruction to respond to developments in their own time. Additionally, this thesis aims to illuminate the broader cultural struggle over Reconstruction between the First and Second World Wars. This thesis ultimately argues that the early revisionism in Reconstruction historiography was part of a broader reassessment of Reconstruction that took place in southern culture after the First World War.