WHA Presidential Address 2023: Searching for a Redemptive West.

This essay examines the concept of the American West as a space of redemption and healing in the aftermath of the Civil War, questioning whether historical and contemporary narratives offer genuine hope or are overshadowed by violence, exclusion, and injustice. Through biographical examples such as Joseph Dutton, a Union soldier who devoted his postwar life to service in the Hawaiian leprosy colony on Molokai, and Jonathan Letterman, a Civil War surgeon who moved west seeking renewal, the essay explores individual quests for atonement amid broader regional and national traumas. It also addresses the racial violence and exclusion experienced by Chinese and Black communities in postwar Los Angeles, highlighting ongoing efforts to memorialize events like the 1871 Chinatown massacre as part of a redemptive public history. Ultimately, the essay suggests that while the post-Civil War West rarely fulfilled its redemptive promises on a large scale, the active remembrance and reinterpretation of history in public spaces today hold potential for communal healing and democratic engagement.