Lecture on black Civil War soldiers
Staff report
YOUNGSTOWN
Leonne Hudson, a history professor at Kent State University, will give a free lecture titled “The Black Army in Mourning” on Feb. 12 at 7 p.m. at the Tyler History Center, 325 W. Federal St., downtown.
Hudson is the author of “The Odyssey of a Southerner: The Life and Times of Gustavus Woodson Smith.”
He served on the Ohio Civil War 150 Advisory Committee and has received several teaching awards at Kent State University, including the College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Teacher Award in 2014.
His lecture is rooted in the Civil War.
During the war, black men eagerly joined the federal army to help preserve the Union and to fight for the liberation of their enslaved brethren and sisters.
The United States Colored Troops were overwhelmed with grief upon learning that President Abraham Lincoln, the man whom they admired as their friend and savior, had been assassinated. More than other soldiers in the Union army, the death of the commander in chief was personal in nature for African American troops.
After Lincoln’s death, it became the responsibility of political leaders to ensure the revolution was not an empty vessel and that its foremost architect had not died in vain.
The lecture is sponsored by the Mahoning Valley Historical Society in recognition of African American History Month.
Free parking is available adjacent to the History Center. For information, call the MVHS at 330-743-2589 or go to mahoninghistory.org.