Below is an article from Civil War  News, a monthly newspaper about Civil War 
museums/preservation and  re-enacting about the Gettysburg exhibition many of 
you have been commenting  about.  I encourage everyone making judgements on 
the topic to learn what  has happened as the whole furor has long since died 
down in the Civil War  community.  (If you want a current Gettysburg topic, why 
not  discuss the gambling casino recently proposed for the  town.) 
 
For those of us who work in museums about the  Civil War, the numerous 
discussions about civil liberties, freedom of speech,  and viewpoints of history and 
race are a daily balancing act and  educational opportunity.  
 
Jennifer Legates
Director of Education
Southern Museum of Civil War & Locomotive History
In Association with the Smithsonian Institute
Kennesaw, Georgia     southernmuseum.org
 
    
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From the December 2004 issue  Civil War News: 
SCV Keeps Focus On Gettysburg College After Flag Exhibit  
By Deborah Fitts 
- December 2004 GETTYSBURG, Va. — The Sons of Confederate Veterans  (SCV) is 
vowing to make Gettysburg College squirm for hosting an art exhibit  that 
included the “lynching” of a Confederate flag.  
“We’re not going to sit by and watch our Confederate heritage impugned,” 
said  the SCV’s Kirk Lyons. “We consider it hate speech. They pay a price, and 
that  price is to be embarrassed.”  
In September the college art gallery mounted an exhibit by African-American  
artist John Sims, of Sarasota, Fla., dubbed “Reclamation Proclamation: The  
Gettysburg Redress.” Along with Confederate flags in unusual hues, it featured  
the “lynching” of a flag in a noose that dangled from the gallery ceiling.  
The SCV hosted a rally on the Gettysburg battlefield timed to coincide with  
the show’s opening reception Sept. 3. But that was just the beginning.  
At the college’s Homecoming weekend in October, the SCV paid to have a light  
plane circle the football stadium for two hours during the game with the 
Ursinus  College Bears, towing a banner that read, “Gettysburg College Teach the 
Truth.  Go Bears.”  
And the SCV placed signs on three billboards around Gettysburg urging the  
college to “Pay the Bill and Tell the Truth.” The message refers to $13,500 in  
costs that local municipalities incurred for police protection for the 
gallery.  
SCV Commander-in-Chief Denne Sweeney upped the ante, asking college president 
 Katherine Haley Will in a Sept. 17 letter to co-host with the SCV another 
art  display or a symposium, promising to carry it out “in a professional and  
academic manner.”  
In a letter to Will, Sweeney said the Sims exhibit “included elements that  
could be interpreted as illegal hate speech,” but added, “We are certainly 
open  to creating a dialogue that could end the unpleasantness between Gettysburg 
 College and the Sons of Confederate Veterans.”  
Lyons said the SCV will not relent till the college “gives us equal time on  
campus.” Lyons is chief of staff of the ANV, the SCV’s eastern department, 
and  an attorney with the North Carolina-based Southern Legal Resource Center.  
“We’re basically trying to bring Gettysburg College to its senses, and do 
the  right thing,” Lyons said. He warned that the organization’s 34,000 members 
“can  stay up late at night thinking of ways to make the college regret they 
ever  brought John Sims on campus.”  
Lyons said the SCV’s campaign against the college was “part of a much wider  
struggle that we’re going to have to face. Academia has turned violently 
against  Southern heritage. At colleges and universities there’s increasing 
hostility to  anything Southern or Confederate.”  
Gettysburg College is resisting the SCV’s pressure. Spokesman Patricia Lawson 
 pointed out that there are two endowed Civil War chairs at the college, and 
that  the college offers a minor in the Civil War, a “Gettysburg Semester” 
that  focuses on the war, and the Civil War Institute, an annual five-day 
symposium  for the general public.  
Lawson acknowledged, however, that the flag flap had prompted discussion  
along the lines of the SCV’s proposal — but not necessarily with the SCV’s  
involvement.  
“We have talked about perhaps having a seminar that would look at the  
Confederate flag,” Lawson said, “and we’d look for a scholarly group to do  that.” 
 
Meanwhile, on Oct. 12 Will presented Gettysburg Borough with a check for  
$15,000 to cover all police costs, plus a little extra. Borough spokesman Walter  
Powell called the overage “a gesture of good will” and said of the gallery 
show  and protests, “We’re happy it ended more or less in amicable fashion.” 
The  Borough had initially predicted that police protection for the show could 
reach  as high as $30,000 to $130,000.  
Molly Hutton, director of the college’s art gallery, said she had “no  
regrets” about inviting Sims to mount his work.  
“I still believe it was an important exhibition to show here,” Hutton said.  
“A lot of people were pleased to see the discussion open up.”  
Sims refused to attend the opening of the show after the college decided, for 
 the sake of security, to bring the flag “lynching” indoors. Sims had built 
a  13-foot “gallows” for the piece, which he titled “The Proper Way to Hang a 
 Confederate Flag.” The contraption was too tall for the gallery room and  
couldn’t be used.  
In the wake of the show, Sims wrote to the local paper to say that he would  
return to Gettysburg and bury the flag if someone would provide a suitable 
patch  of ground. “Apparently no one volunteered,” Hutton said.  
She noted that the SCV’s attack on the college was raised at an October  
conference of the Southeastern Museum Association, the regional arm of the  
American Association of Museums. A panel member cited the college’s situation as  a 
case in point when discussing “neo-Confederate pressure on arts  organizations,
” Hutton said.  
“The controversy is starting to reach other audiences and we don’t know what 
 the results will be.”  
Hutton said the SCV’s billboards and airplane banner may have fallen short of 
 the mark. “The billboard is sort of enigmatic,” she said. “People wonder 
what  they’re talking about.” As for the banner, “I think a lot of people 
thought the  other team paid for it.”  
She suggested, however, that she was open to the SCV’s proposal for a seminar 
 or exhibit.  
“I’m pleased that the SCV is asking for more dialogue,” she said. “If the  
college decides to do that, that would be productive.”

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