The "Lost Cause" and the "Antebellum Imagination "

In this selection from a module which teaches them about the concept of the
“Lost Cause,” I try to help students better understand the overt and subtle
ways in which the myth of the “Lost Cause” is embedded in the contemporary
cultural milieu. In this section, I have them focus on the “antebellum
imagination”—a way of thinking that effaces the history of enslavement and
violence and instead imagines a glorious period of great houses, refined
manners, and fancy dress.