Rituals and Relics of the Confederacy: How Sewanee Enshrines the Lost Cause

📅 Weds. February 26th
🕑 5pm
📍 Naylor Auditorium (inside Gailor Hall)

Please join members of The Roberson Project on Slavery, Race, and Reconciliation for a panel discussion on the various ways Sewanee continues to honor the legacy of the Confederacy, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Featuring a preview of two new archival databases, this discussion will explore the distinction between enshrinement and memorialization and examine how both shape the university’s story and campus culture.

Panelists will address key aspects of Sewanee’s Confederate legacy, including:

The university’s rituals and commemorations tied to the Lost Cause and their effects on student and faculty demographics, campus climate, and the absence of Black sororities and fraternities. The history of awarding honorary degrees to former Confederates and the insights revealed by a new digital exhibit. As well as the Sewanee Inn’s curated display of portraits and landscapes that reinforce and further embed the Lost Cause in the university’s cultural and visual landscape.

The panel discussion will be followed by an audience Q&A, inviting further reflection on the university’s historical memory and the challenges of confronting its past.

This event is free and open to the public.