Hell has frozen over! Kevin Levin changes his mind about Confederate monuments

Hell has frozen over! Beelzebub is ice skating. Lucifer is throwing snowballs. Satan is wearing mittens and a heavy overcoat.

I present this article by Kevin M. Levin in The Atlantic titled, "Why I Changed My Mind About Confederate Monuments."

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/why-i-changed-my-mind-about-confederate-monuments/537396/

If Levin has changed his mind, what was his opinion before?

Levin gives some very good reasons for seeing that empty pedestals offer an opportunity for learning about history. I think it offers good reasons for others clinging to Confederate monuments to give them up.

I think it also signals to the Civil War history profession and public historians that they too should give up on retaining Confederate monuments.

So there are a lot of good things about this article.

However, I think Levin saw the freight train of history and decided to not get run over by it.

It is nice that Levin has changed his opinion. However, his historical role against Confederate monument removal can't be denied.

I am very busy doing historical research to support the local Dallas effort for monument removal.

I think that later this year it needs to be reviewed what was the role of the Civil War history profession in this revolution regarding Confederate memorialization. Blue & Gray has folded, perhaps the community of Civil War historians should consider that some Civil War Round Table attitudes need to be folded also.

Incidentally with Jefferson Davis statues being taken down I am so glad that I rejected strenuously the effort to get "The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader" a Jefferson Davis medal.

It will be interesting also to see if the Museum of the Confederacy stops its trade in Confederate nostalgia.