Confederate Remembrance

By December 1860 tensions between US states over the issue of slavery reached a decisive point as South Carolina announced its secession from the federal government. Other states wanting to maintain slavery joined South Carolina and established the Confederate States of America (CSA) in February 1861. This series of events ultimately led to the American Civil War (1861–1865) between the United States and the CSA. The major hostilities of the war ended with Confederate General Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House in 1865, though the war was not officially declared over until August 20, 1966. Slavery officially ended in the United States with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in December 1865. However, systemic racism and the oppression...