Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner's Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause

Seidule’s hometown of Alexandria, Virginia is a suburb of Washington, DC that is home to many thousands of federal employees who have no affinity for ‘the South.’ Seidule, however, was born and raised there to parents with Southern roots. He experienced Alexandria as not merely an extension of the national capital but as a bastion of Southern culture and pride. When he was young, Seidule believed that his roots in Alexandria made him a “Southern gentleman.” While he was right that Alexandria does in fact have a special Southern history, there was an ugly side to that history that he did not appreciate until much later.

Seidule’s father taught at the prestigious Episcopal High School in Alexandria, which catered to wealthy families with the promise of helping their sons become Southern, Christian gentlemen. Part of this education involved revering the legacy of the Confederacy, especially Robert E. Lee, who was born in Alexandria. A Confederate veteran, or a descendant of one, served as the school’s headmaster for the better part of a century, and a campus memorial commemorates only Confederate alumni. The school taught young Virginians that their state was the most important in the nation, and that Virginians are by extension a higher class than other Americans.