The Obama Presidency and the Confederate Narrative

Since this nation’s founding, a Confederate Narrative has covered and protected racial subordination. This Confederate Narrative has been prominent at times and muted at times. My thesis is that, by its very success, the Obama presidency brought this narrative to the fore, paving the way for a reactionary attachment to local control. I will describe the Confederate Narrative in Part I. In Part II, I will explain how the Confederate Narrative was challenged by and after the civil war, but then revived to blunt the effects of Reconstruction. In Part III, I will argue that resistance to the Obama presidency enlivened the Confederate Narrative. Finally, in Part IV, I will comment on the likely effects of Donald Trump’s presidency on national receptivity to the Confederate Narrative on the one hand, and on federal protection of civil and human rights on the other.