Hyde-Smith co-sponsored resolution honoring confederate soldier for ‘defending homeland:’ CNN

Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) reportedly co-sponsored a resolution in Mississippi’s state Senate in 2007 that among other things honored a Confederate soldier for his efforts to “defend his homeland.”

CNN’s KFile reported Hyde-Smith co-sponsored a resolution honoring Effie Lucille Nicholson Pharr, a then-92-year-old Mississippi resident whose father, Thomas Jefferson Nicholson, served as a soldier in the Confederate army.

{mosads}The resolution, which can be found online, refers to Nicholson Pharr as “the last known living ‘Real Daughter’ of the Confederacy living in Mississippi” and to her father’s work to “defend his homeland and contribut[e] to the rebuilding of the country” during and after the war.

“[T]his resolution — which ostensibly is about honoring the ‘daughter’ — really seems to be an excuse to glorify the Confederate cause,” Nina Silber, president of the Society of Civil War Historians told CNN about the resolution.

It “rests on an odd combination of perpetuating both the Confederate legacy and the idea that this was not really in conflict with being a good citizen of the nation,” she added.

The senator’s campaign declined to comment from The Hill on her support for the resolution.

Hyde-Smith has faced a barrage of controversies about race in recent days due to controversial statements made by the senator, who is facing Democrat Mike Espy in a runoff election for her seat on Tuesday.

The senator was criticized for joking that she would attend a “public hanging” when prompted by a supporter during a campaign event, and battled reports Saturday that she attended a school in her youth specifically designed to avoid integration of Mississippi public schools during the civil rights era.