# Edith D. Pope

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{{Short description|American editor}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Edith Drake Pope
| image = 
| caption = 
| birth_name = 
| birth_date = 1869
| birth_place = [Williamson County, Tennessee](/source/Williamson_County%2C_Tennessee), U.S.
| death_date = January 27, 1947
| death_place = Williamson County, Tennessee, U.S.
| death_cause = 
| resting_place = 
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| nationality = 
| other_names = 
| known_for = 
| education =
| alma_mater = Tennessee Female College
| employer = 
| occupation = Editor
| title = 
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| spouse = 
| children = 
| parents = William Campbell Pope<br/>Mary Caroline Drake
| relatives =
}}
'''Edith D. Pope''' (1869 – 1947) was an American editor. She was the second editor of the ''[Confederate Veteran](/source/Confederate_Veteran)'' from 1914 to 1932, and the president of the Nashville No. 1 chapter of the [United Daughters of the Confederacy](/source/United_Daughters_of_the_Confederacy) from 1927 to 1930. She played a critical role in the promotion of the [Lost Cause of the Confederacy](/source/Lost_Cause_of_the_Confederacy).

==Early life==
Edith Drake Pope was born in 1869 to a former slaveholding family.<ref name="simpson1">{{cite book|last1=Simpson|first1=John A.|title=Edith D. Pope and Her Nashville Friends: Guardians of the Lost Cause in the Confederate Veteran|date=2003|publisher=University of Tennessee Press|location=Knoxville, Tennessee|isbn=9781572332119|oclc=428118511|pages=1–2; 23; 29–31; 45; 63}}</ref> She grew up in Williamson County, "less than one mile" from the [John Pope House](/source/John_Pope_House_(Burwood%2C_Tennessee)) in [Burwood, Tennessee](/source/Burwood%2C_Tennessee), built by her paternal great-grandfather.<ref name="simpson1"/> Her father, William Campbell Pope, served in the [Confederate States Army](/source/Confederate_States_Army) during the [American Civil War](/source/American_Civil_War) of 1861–1865.<ref name="simpson1"/> She had two brothers and three sisters.<ref name="simpson1"/>

Pope graduated from the (now defunct) [Tennessee Female College](/source/Tennessee_Female_College) in [Franklin, Tennessee](/source/Franklin%2C_Tennessee), in 1888.<ref name="simpson1"/>

==Career==
Pope began her career as [Sumner Archibald Cunningham](/source/Sumner_Archibald_Cunningham)'s secretary; Cunningham was the founder and editor of the ''Confederate Veteran'', a monthly magazine about veterans of the [Confederate States Army](/source/Confederate_States_Army).<ref name="moody107">{{cite book|last1=Moody|first1=Wesley|title=Demon of the Lost Cause: Sherman and Civil War History|date=2011|publisher=University of Missouri Press|location=Columbia, Missouri|isbn=9780826272669|oclc=842399455|page=107|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RBPSigye5IsC&dq=%22edith+drake+pope%22&pg=PA107}}</ref> When he died in December 1913, she became its editor until her retirement in 1932.<ref name="tennesseestatelibrary">{{cite web|title=CONFEDERATE VETERAN RECORDS, 1904-1941|url=http://tsla.tnsosfiles.com.s3.amazonaws.com/history/manuscripts/findingaids/CONFEDERATE_VETERAN_RECORDS_1904-1941.pdf|website=Tennessee State Library and Archives|publisher=State of Tennessee, Department of State|accessdate=September 24, 2017}}</ref> In a 1927 edition of the magazine, she refuted [William Mack Lee](/source/William_Mack_Lee)'s false claim that he was a body servant to General [Robert E. Lee](/source/Robert_E._Lee) during the [American Civil War](/source/American_Civil_War).<ref name= cwmemory>{{cite magazine |last= Pope|first= E.D.|date= 1927|title= More Historical "Bunk"|url= https://cwmemory.com/2016/05/27/william-mack-lee-outed-in-confederate-veteran/|magazine= [Confederate Veteran](/source/Confederate_Veteran)|location= [Nashville, Tennessee](/source/Nashville%2C_Tennessee)|publisher= [Methodist Publishing House](/source/Methodist_Publishing_House)|access-date= November 16, 2025}}</ref>
thumb|right|Matthew Fontaine Maury Monument
Pope was an active member of the [United Daughters of the Confederacy](/source/United_Daughters_of_the_Confederacy).<ref name="tennencyclopediabio">{{cite web|last1=Simpson|first1=John A.|title=Edith Drake Pope|url=https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=1072|website=The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture|publisher=Tennessee Historical Society and the University of Tennessee Press|accessdate=September 24, 2017}}</ref> She was the president of the Nashville No. 1 chapter from 1927 to 1930, and its recording secretary from 1930 to 1935.<ref name="tennencyclopediabio"/> She helped install the [Matthew Fontaine Maury Monument](/source/Monument_Avenue) in Richmond, Virginia, and the [Tennessee Confederate Women's Monument](/source/Tennessee_Confederate_Women's_Monument) in Nashville.<ref name="tennencyclopediabio"/> She was also a member of the Confederate Memorial Literary Society,<ref name="tennencyclopediabio"/> which established the [Museum of the Confederacy](/source/Museum_of_the_Confederacy) in Richmond; it was later renamed the [American Civil War Museum](/source/American_Civil_War_Museum). 
thumb|right|Confederate Memorial Hall at Vanderbilt University.
Pope also played a key role in the construction of [Confederate Memorial Hall](/source/Memorial_Hall%2C_Vanderbilt_University) at [Peabody College](/source/Peabody_College) (now [Vanderbilt University](/source/Vanderbilt_University)) in Nashville, where she made sure the college would also teach a course on Southern history.<ref name="simpson98">{{cite book|last1=Simpson|first1=John A.|title=Edith D. Pope and Her Nashville Friends: Guardians of the Lost Cause in the Confederate Veteran|date=2003|publisher=University of Tennessee Press|location=Knoxville, Tennessee|isbn=9781572332119|oclc=750779185|pages=98–99|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Dwh0dEOFS8C&dq=Edith+D.+Pope+peabody+college&pg=PA98}}</ref>

Pope supported the [Ku Klux Klan](/source/Ku_Klux_Klan) and [Jim Crow laws](/source/Jim_Crow_laws).<ref name="simpson1"/> She was a proponent of the "repatriation" of African-American United States citizens to Africa, and she was nostalgic about the [American Colonization Society](/source/American_Colonization_Society).<ref name="simpson1"/>

==Personal life and death==
Pope resided in the West End neighborhood of Nashville, next to [Centennial Park](/source/Centennial_Park_(Nashville)) and Vanderbilt University.<ref name="simpson1"/>

Pope died on January 27, 1947, in Burwood, Tennessee.<ref name="tennencyclopediabio"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Edith Drake Pope}}

{{Neo-Confederates}}
{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pope, Edith D.}}
Category:1869 births
Category:1947 deaths
Category:People from Williamson County, Tennessee
Category:People from Nashville, Tennessee
Category:American magazine editors
Category:American women magazine editors
Category:Members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy
Category:Neo-Confederates

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Edith D. Pope](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_D._Pope) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_D._Pope?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.