Kyle Whitmire of AL.com in Birmingham, Alabama has won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for his excellent series on the impact of Confederate heritage on modern Alabama. According to the Pulitzer Prize committee, Whitmire won for his “measured and persuasive columns that document how Alabama’s Confederate heritage still colors the present with racism and exclusion.” I have read the series, titled “State of Denial”, and must say that the engaging articles explain how Alabama’s Lost Cause memory of the Civil War was shaped, how it continued to impact white Alabaman’s views on history and race long after the last Confederate veterans were laid away in the local cemetery, and how it continues to play a role in the state’s contemporary life in excellent style.
Here is the complete list of articles in the series:
- Alabama’s capitol is a crime scene. The cover-up has lasted 120 years.
- Ambushed in Eufaula: Alabama’s forgotten race massacre
- How a Confederate daughter rewrote Alabama history for white supremacy
- Legislating while Black in Alabama: CRT and the struggle for respect
- Alabama’s Confederate mansions get state funding, distort our history
- How 155 angry white men chained Alabama to its Confederate past
- Alabama’s education system was designed to preserve white supremacy. I should know.
Follow Reconstruction Blog on Social Media:
