October 24: Lecture, Display To Inform On Afro-Union Civil War Veterans

CHESAPEAKE

Local Historian and Educator Dr. E. Curtis Alexander will host a forum on tracing our genealogical connection with Black Civil War soldiers and sailors on October 24, from 2-4 p.m. at the  Cottages at Great Bridge.

From 1-5 p.m., there will be an African Heritage Bookseller Marketplace featuring books on Egypt, Ethiopia and West Africa;  and African-American history and culture books for children, parents and teachers. 

Also, on display will be a Pictorial Exhibit of Afro-Union Medal of Honor Recipients. 

Dr. Alexander, a 2009 Congressional Black Caucus Veterans’ Braintrust Award recipient, will lecture on  “Afro-Union Soldiers and Sailors Genealogical Research: Did any of Your Ancestors Fight to Save America and Defeat Slavery?”

After  President Abraham Lincoln issued the  Emancipation Proclamation, he created the Bureau of United States Colored Troops (USCT) which was directed to recruit and train Black men for service in the Union Army during the Civil War.

Over 210,000 men of African descent served during the  Civil War. Half were freedmen who lived in the North, and half were ex-slaves from the South. They served under mainly White officers in more than 160 “colored” regiments and in federal regiments organized as the USCT.    

Registration is suggested since seating is limited to 24. 

For more information,  call (757) 547-5542. The Cottages At Great Bridge is located at 625 Bette’s Way, Chesapeake, VA 23320.