LGM Film Club, Part 125: Gettysburg Reunion, 1938

The Gettysburg reunions that began in the early 20th century were all about erasing the Black experience of the Civil War and creating reconciliationist narratives based around notions of white supremacy. David Blight’s Race and Reunion is such a wonderful book on this point. Of course, there’s something to ancient veterans meeting one last time. But the entire idea of a shared experience of war like this completely erases any ideology that caused the war. It became a story of shared sacrifice over vague ideas instead of actual sacrifice over half the nation seceding to commit treason in defense of slavery. In any case, here’s footage of the 75th Gettysburg reunion in 1938.