When was the United States Civil War Centennial Commission created?
Congress created the United States Civil War Centennial Commission in 1957. This federal body did not dictate a single theme for the nationwide observance.
Congress created the United States Civil War Centennial Commission in 1957. This federal body did not dictate a single theme for the nationwide observance.
Almost every state established its own commission to manage local activities because the law expected them to carry out most of the work. Northern state commissions viewed the war differently than Southern state commissions, creating a fractured narrative rather than a unified national story.
The shadow of the civil rights movement affected all commemorative activities from 1957 onward while segregation laws remained firmly in place across the South. National Commission members deliberately avoided emphasizing potentially divisive civil rights issues and the federal government did not link the war's end to the struggle for voting rights.
At least two major battlefields were added to the National Park Service roster during the Centennial years including Pea Ridge National Military Park in Arkansas and Wilson's Creek National Battlefield in Missouri. Much of the current interpretive infrastructure dates to planning decisions made in the early 1960s when the National Park Service successfully lobbied Congress for increased funding.
This flag was raised on the grounds of the South Carolina State House in April 1961 to mark the 100th anniversary commemoration by South Carolina's government of Fort Sumter. Eleven months later state lawmakers passed a law requiring the flag's appearance be made permanent over the capitol itself until it was reversed in 2015 after the Charleston church shooting.