Do Southerners Discuss Civil War and Pre-Civil War History Much?

No.

This is a rather odd piece of misunderstanding that journalists and intellectuals seem to have....that 153 years later....it's just not that big of a deal.

If you find a guy who did family research and found that six members of his family were members of some state militia....then he gets into this, and maybe the guy starts attending Civil War reenactments.

Most folks go back on family history and find in 99-percent of cases....their family never owned any slaves.

Structure in high school history?  You can go and pull out the history books used for 8th grade or 10th grade American history and find that there's one single chapter on the period, and it's mostly over the northern perception of the war.  Some teachers might try to force kids to go and read Uncle Tom's Cabin.....to ensure they have some understanding.  Beyond that?  Nothing much.

If you held a history test over the 1800 to 1865 period.....General Lee and President Davis are about the only two southerners brought up by a majority.  Some might bring up another five or six generals, but otherwise, they really don't know much of this period. 

All these statues?  Well....the vast majority were put up around twenty to fifty years after the war ended.  Most were paid for by private donations or private parties.  In the vast number of cases, this whole statue phase ended by the 1930s (having peaked out between 1900 and 1920). 

The Klan business?  That's another odd thing.  The FBI says, for the most part....real membership hasn't existed in over forty years.  Even today, they hint that official members is probably in the 1,000 to 2,000 range across the entire US.  It would be safe to say that 99.9-percent of people who live in the state of Georgia....aren't members of the Klan. 

The sad truth?  More people in Alabama know more about the University of Alabama football record over the past forty years, than about the Civil War or the sixty years prior to the war. 

Black emergence over the past couple of decades?  That's another curious development.  Go look at the number owning relatively new cars and having a home-ownership situation....the statistics have rapidly risen over the past five decades.  Kids in a two-parent black families continue on to educational goals....end up in a community college, trade school, or college.....then get jobs and pay taxes.   Kids in the disjointed family situation get into screwed-up situations and then don't rise.

So all this hype over the Civil War and the years since?  Just fake chatter?  One might get that impression.