MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Leaders in Alabama are confronting the legacy of what might be the grandest Confederate memorial of all: the state's Department of Archives and History.
Founded in 1901, the agency became a vast repository of Confederate records and artifacts.
During the current national reckoning over race, its current leaders acknowledged the department once played a role in systemic racism by promoting “lost cause” narrative of Civil War history that was favored by some whites and all but excluding Blacks.
The current director says the agency needed to acknowledge its past before it could help with healing the racial divide.