The US Civil War marked a turning point for Black activism, transforming from Abolition to Civil Rights. As for all Americans, it also recast how Black citizenship was described, counted and interpreted. Learn more about how the story of the conflict — and those who served in it — was enshrined and remembered by Black Americans. Join our conversation with Drs. Holly Pinheiro and Hilary Green to examine the ways in which Black soldiers and their families and communities served in the Union forces and then battled with the government following the war to earn recognition of their veteran status. In his recently published book The Families' Civil War: Black Soldiers and The Fight for Racial Justice, Dr. Pinheiro provides not only a compelling account of the lives of United States Colored Troops and their entire families but also argues that the Civil War was but one engagement in a longer war for racial justice. Dr. Pinheiro provides a compelling account of the lives of United States Colored Troops and their entire families but also argues that the Civil War was but one engagement in a longer war for racial justice. By 1863 the Civil War provided Black Philadelphians with the ability to expand the theater of war beyond their metropolitan and racially oppressive city into the South to defeat Confederates and end slavery as armed combatants. But the war at home waged by white northerners never ended.

Virtual and Onsite:

We are offering this program virtually and onsite at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The speakers will be virtual, and you can gather with us at 1300 Locust Street to watch the webinar live and engage in conversation with the speakers and each other.

Speakers' Bios:

Dr. Holly A. Pinheiro Jr. is an assistant professor of African American history at Furman University. He is the author of articles in American Nineteenth Century History, the African American Intellectual History Society's Black Perspectives blog, and the Journal of the Civil War Era's Muster blog.

Dr. Hilary N. Green is an associate professor of history at The University of Alabama. Starting July 1, she will be a Professor of History in the Africana Studies Department at Davidson College. She is the author of Educational Reconstruction: African American Schools in the Urban South, 1865-1890 (Fordham University Press, 2016) and numerous articles, essays and reviews. She also serves as the Digital Media Editor of the Journal of the Civil War Era's Muster blog. At present, she is working on a second book manuscript exploring how everyday African Americans (including rural Black Pennsylvanians) remembered and commemorated the Civil War from 1863 to the present.