President Taft addresses a massive crowd at Bull Run on July 21, 1911, marking the 50th anniversary of the Civil War’s first major battle.
Aging Union and Confederate veterans gathered on the same fields where they once fought, embracing in a symbolic gesture of national reconciliation.
Yet the commemoration unfolded during the Jim Crow era, when public memory often celebrated white unity while ignoring the central role of slavery and emancipation.
Taft’s presence lent federal legitimacy to this selective remembrance, helping cement a romanticized narrative of the conflict that would shape American memory for generations.
