Moses Jacob Ezekiel, also known as Moses "Ritter von" Ezekiel, was an American sculptor who lived and worked in Rome for the majority of his career. Ezekiel was "the first American-born Jewish artist to receive international acclaim". Ezekiel was an ardent supporter, in both his writings and in his works, of the Lost Cause revisionist view of history.
Ezekiel's most famous work, the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
Fedor Encke. Drawing by Moses Jacob Ezekiel.
Ezekiel's grave on the north side of the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery.
Religious Liberty (1876) in Philadelphia.
Lost Cause of the Confederacy
The Lost Cause of the Confederacy is an American pseudohistorical and historical negationist myth that claims the cause of the Confederate States during the American Civil War was just, heroic, and not centered on slavery. First enunciated in 1866, it has continued to influence racism, gender roles, and religious attitudes in the Southern United States into the 21st century. Historians have dismantled many parts of the Lost Cause mythos.
Custis Lee (1832–1913) rode on horseback in front of the Jefferson Davis Memorial in Richmond, Virginia on June 3, 1907, reviewing the Confederate Reunion Parade.
Edward A. Pollard published several works about Lost Cause ideology. Those books have led to debates about the origins of the Civil War.
The image "The Union As It Was" was published in Harper's Weekly in 1874. On a pseudo-heraldic shield are a black family between a lynched body hanging from a tree and the remains of a burning schoolhouse, with the caption "Worse than Slavery". The supporters are a member of the White League and a hooded KKK member, shaking hands in agreement with the Lost Cause.
Frederick Douglass (c. 1879) opposed the erection of Confederate monuments.