Confederate "Heritage" Month 2019, April 24: Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, neo-Confederacy, and Robert E. Lee

Mississippi's Republican Gov. Phil Bryant is one among all too many examples of Republican officeholders who support a neo-Confederate worldview. Ashton Pittman reports in Gov. Bryant Declares April 'Unity Month,' Not 'Confederate Heritage Month' Jackson Free Press 04/23/2019:

Bryant has longrunning ties with segregationist and neo-Confederate groups. In high school, he attended a segregation academy that the racist Citizens' Council, known colloquially as the "White Citizens Council," started.

He is a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, an organization known for its efforts to revise history with false claims that the Civil War was fought over "state's rights," and not slavery. The group recently gave Bryant the John J. Pettus Heritage Award, named for Mississippi's virulently racist, slave-holding governor who led the state in secession.

The Jackson Free Press revealed in February 2016 that Bryant was quietly declaring April "Confederate Heritage Month" annually, but with no mention of slavery, the cause of the war. He did it again in 2017. [my emphasis]

Adam Ganucheau provides more information on Bryant's ties to the Sons of Confederate Veterans in Gov. Phil Bryant receives Sons of Confederate Veterans heritage award Mississippi Today 06/18/2018.

But people in Mississippi are also protesting against monuments glorifying the Confederacy. (Adam Gaucheau, Ole Miss leader agrees Confederate monument should be moved, but political boards in Jackson must sign off Mississippi Today 03/31/2019)

As the title on Pittman's article idicates, Bryant tried a twist this year by proclaiming April "Unity Month" in Mississippi instead of Confederate Heritage Month. He also reports, "Two days after the April 27 unity rally, Mississippi will celebrate Confederate Memorial Day - a holiday recognized by just a handful of southern states. Mississippi, Anderson pointed out in his statement, also celebrates Robert E. Lee Day every January on the same day as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day."

He goes on to refer to Lee as a slaveowner. There is apparently still some lack of clarity on whether Lee himself owned slaves in his own name. But his family did, and Lee had practical authority over his family's slaves. (Allen Guelzo, Robert E. Lee and Slavery Encyclopedia Virginia 02/13/2019) The advocates of Lost Cause pseudohistory like to claim that Lee himself was personally opposed to slavery, but that's nonsense.

Roy Blount, Jr., debunks the myth of Lee as anti-slavery in Making Sense of Robert E. Lee Smithsonian Magazine (July 2003).

But as late as 1994, the US Postal Service was putting Lee's image on a postage stamp, as part of a series equally divided between Union and Confederate figures: