Hi, non USA citizen here after advice...
I wanted to write a Civil War Ball scene into my novel. I won't lie, seemed like a romantic, interesting setting for some character development and plot revelations.
As I was researching hooped dresses and ladies hairstyles of the era, I came across an article about the banning of hooped skirts at the University of Georgia. (Washington Post: "Remove the Southern Belle from her Inglorious Perch"). The whole thing seems dangerous now: I certainly don't want to glamorise a racist regime. Should I be writing about the Civil War at all?
That's some very contentious, tricky, complicated territory you're wading into, which I suppose you realize, given your post.
My first question is, what is the nature of this novel and this scene? The entire novel isn't set during the Civil War, I take it, so it's just one ball scene? What context are you presenting it in? Time travel? A foreigner visiting?
Second question: North or South? Given context clues, I'm going to guess South. There are [big] problems with that. Like that WaPo article alludes to, the antebellum south has been mythologized and glamorized. Not only was it probably not as lovely and grand as people might like to imagine, there was the MASSIVE problem of, ya know, slavery, making it all about as glamorous as a heap of dirt. If setting this in the South, you cannot avoid the issue of slavery, but addressing the issue of slavery means knowing what you're talking about. Also, there would have been privations during the war that made things much less romantic. Yes, they did still have entertainments, but there was often no food and the clothes were old. In some places, not even that much was possible. The South was devastated by the war. AND it's important to note that only a small number of people lived like the elite of the Old South. Most people did not live that way
, at all. So, the glamorized South didn't even really exist.Aside from the fact that you'll be referencing a world that didn't really exist, the very fact that you're referencing that world is problematic, unless you're prepared to confront it. I don't know where you're from, but the memory of the South and the Confederacy is a
major hot-button topic here in the U.S. You need to be aware of the conversations that are going on around that and
why they're going on. You cannot simply place a scene in the Civil War South because it seems interesting and romantic. That's the wrong way to approach it (judging by your tone, I think you get this). Readers of color in particular will not thank you.
If it's set in the North, then there will be fewer shortages and there's less romanticism, but it's still important to keep in mind that the politics of the North were very divided.
Look, you might be able to get away with a cursory treatment of the time period, but you probably won't, and you shouldn't try. I may be biased, since the antebellum/Civil War time period has been my jam for a long time now, but I think the time period must be approached with extreme respect and care and shouldn't be written about unless the writer has done deep and extensive research and knows the period. It was the pivotal moment in this nation's history, and we're still struggling with the after-effects. It is a big, ugly can of worms.
So, am I saying don't do it? No. I think you can; I personally think anyone can write about anything. I'm just saying . . . proceed with care.