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Imagine a bookcase large enough to contain all the works ever written about the history of the American South. (It would be quite massive!) But even though that region’s history spans centuries, I would bet that the overwhelming majority of its shelf space was devoted to just two decades: the 1860s and 1960s. That is no coincidence, of course. The bloody drama of the Civil War has fascinated observers ever since that conflict ended. Equally captivating is the grassroots campaign by Black southerners to overthrow Jim Crow segregation, which made social justice a household phrase in modern America.
But because these two decades have served as such magnets of interest, other pivotal moments in the region’s history have often been overlooked. I would vote for the 1890s to be awarded a bronze medal in the competition for the South’s most impactful decades. Why these ten years, among so many others? It was an incredibly turbulent decade, defined by a white backlash to Black progress—and one that would set the stage for an unequal twentieth century.
It was in the 1890s that the first systematic Jim Crow laws were put on the law books, excluding Black men from voting and segregating public space. This decade had more lynching deaths than any other in southern history. And it was a decade when the memory of the Civil War was weaponized across the region. The United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Sons of Confederate Veterans were both founded during its span. It was in the 1890s that white southerners first began erecting large public monuments to the Confederacy—the same statues that are being debated and toppled today. It was also in the 1890s that Confederate battle flags first began appearing on southern state flags.
Far fewer books address this pivotal decade as compared to the usual suspects of the Civil War and civil rights. But believe it or not, a massively popular video game played by more than sixty million people does foreground the South in these turbulent years. That game is Red Dead Redemption II, released in 2018 by Rockstar Games and which is now the seventh-best selling video game of all time. It is set in 1899, and follows an outlaw gang as they flee from authority across the United States. The game is frequently pigeonholed as a “western,” but large portions of the plotline take place in a fictionalized Deep South. Gamers spend many hours in “Saint Denis,” a fictionalized New Orleans, and the surrounding southern countryside.
It might be surprising to many readers, but this blockbuster game thoughtfully captures some of those key dilemmas that made the 1890s so decisive. In the game’s digital landscape, Confederate memorials loom over town and city. A rival gang wears the gray uniforms of the Confederate Army, fighting tooth and nail to maintain white supremacy. And Black gangmates and non-player characters frequently speak to the suffocating atmosphere of the region. Because of its astounding popularity, Red Dead Redemption II might then be helping to restore the 1890s to its rightful place at the center of southern history.
On its own, the video game doesn’t teach players the full nuances of this troubling decade. But for the past few years, I’ve made it my mission to use the fictional content of this wildly popular entertainment product to expose new audiences to the dark and gritty history of the United States in this era. In 2021, I taught the world’s first-ever college history class on the Red Dead Redemption games. Students loved it, and inspired me to write a book on the same subject, which debuts on August 6. Red Dead’s History: A Video Game, an Obsession, and America’s Violent Past is a rare beast—a history book commenting on a video game. But for both gamers and history buffs, it could be a vital tool for shedding light on a time and place that has too often been forgotten.