The latest post by Ta-Nehisis Coates beautifully captures the
frustrations that many African Americans experience when
visiting America’s Civil War battlefields and specifically those
places where African Americans participated. A recent visit to
the Petersburg battlefields, including the Crater, by Coates and
his children highlights the continued challenges facing museums,
the National Park Service, and other historical organizations in
working toward a narrative that acknowledges the contributions
of African Americans and situates the Civil War within the
broader history of freedom and race. When you take a moment to
step back it is shocking to think that a war that resulted in
the end of slavery and emancipation of 4 million people would be
remembered in a way that divorced the descendants of those very
people from being able to fully engage and consume the historic
sites from that struggle. And yet, that is where we are on the
eve of the Civil War Sesquicentennial. Before proceeding here
are a few passage