Confederate White House museum hangs on to Old South notions

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Schoolchildren who visit the First White House of the Confederacy in Alabama’s capital get a view of history that some critics call distorted.

Visitors are told that the former resident, Jefferson Davis, was leader of a “heroic resistance” who was “held by his Negroes in genuine affection as well as highest esteem.”

Such ideas were once mainstream in the South but have since been largely abandoned by historians. Opponents say Alabama tax dollars shouldn’t be spent on a version of the past that they believe to be “whitewashed.”

Representatives of the Confederate White House say it isn’t their job to tell children about the evils of slavery because it’s something they already know.

The museum has persevered in an era when many Confederate memorials across the South are being re-evaluated.