The Omaha Guide wrote two articles mentioning Confederate commemoration, both implicating white women as drivers of continuing racial and political tensions. A 1935 article, “White Woman Draws Ire of Southerners,” (linked to the Associated Negro Press, also republished by the Pittsburgh Courier) reported on a controversy sparked by Susan Glover Macomber, a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Massachusetts Women’s Relief Corps. Macomber “pinned the label of ‘traitor’ on Gen. Robert E. Lee” in a debate over whether the CSA general should have a statue in Arlington National Cemetery.[1] This caused tension between the DAR and the Southern United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC). Macomber compared the Lee statue proposal to having “a statue of Benedict Arnold erected on the campus at West Point,” saying that “they were both traitors of the same ilk.”[2] The UDC of Mobile, Alabama adopted a resolution protesting Macomber’s statement. The article concluded by quoting a United Confederate Veterans leader dismissing the DAR’s attack on Lee by saying, “I don’t pay any attention to such foolishness.”[3]
Two years later, a second article by the Omaha Guide also discussed women’s groups’ role in post-Civil War America. This article, “Says Southern Women Keep Rift Open,” reported that at memorial ceremonies in honor of Confederate veterans, Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Surgeon General Edward H. Cowan “blamed the Daughters of the Confederacy for continuing a North and Southern division.” Cowan declared “the men in the South have been our friends since the Civil War ended, but the women keep alive our differences.”
These articles highlighted the role of the UDC in driving the agenda of Confederate commemoration, and directly accused them of inflaming sectional tensions and keeping the Lost Cause narrative alive.
Justin Seward
Please cite as:
Seward, Justin. “‘The Women Keep Alive Our Differences’: The Omaha Guide’s View of Southern Ladies’ Memorial Associations.” False Image of History: Perspectives on Confederate Commemoration from the Black Press (online). Fall 2024 Edition. Schaefer, Donovan O., ed. URL = https://falseimage.pennds.org/essay/“the-women-keep-alive-our-differences”-the-omaha-guide’s-view-of-southern-ladies’-memorial-associations/.
References
Omaha Guide. “White Woman Draws Ire of Southerners.” June 8, 1935.
Omaha Guide. “Says Southern Women Keep Rift Open.” October 16, 1937.
Omaha Guide. “White Woman Draws Ire of Southerners.” ↩︎
Omaha Guide. “White Woman Draws Ire of Southerners.” ↩︎
Omaha Guide. “White Woman Draws Ire of Southerners.” ↩︎