AFRICAN AMERICAN CIVIL WAR CONFERENCE IN KINSTON

 SPRING 2011 Symposium on The United States Colored Troops, MARCH 11-13, 2011

Kinston, NC --- "Civil War To Civil Rights," a regional symposium about the role of the US Colored Troops in the Civil War will be held March 11 -13 at the Hampton Inn in Kinston, NC. in conjunction with the Kinston’s Blue-Gray Civil War Living History Weekend. The weekend will feature presentations and exhibits from national and regional historians, storytellers, civil war scholars, the CSS Neuse Re-enactment, troop demonstrations, and living history cultural interpreters revolving around the participatory role of African Americans in the Civil War.

The conference begins on Friday with Civil War Living History demonstrations held for area schools in the morning, then from 12 noon to 5:00 pm, workshops on inclusion of USCT in the Civil War battles will be held at the Blue-Gray Visitor Information Center on Hwy –70 Bypass. Beginning at 8:30 am on Saturday at the Hampton Inn , the conference will feature  seminar tracks focusing on NC  history, NC Battles, Black Spy Network, Genealogy, Bernie Siler and Black Sailors, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and Dr. David A. Anderson aka Sankofa, storyteller .  Civil War Re-enactors from Maryland, D.C., Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, South Carolina and Wilmington, NC; USCT descendants and others will memorialize the USCT soldiers from Lenoir County on Saturday afternoon. A Friday evening welcoming reception will be held at the Arts Center and Saturday evening’s banquet at the Hampton Inn will feature the Visionary Heritage Leadership Awards, honoring Annie Whitehead, Gregor Hannibal, Edwin Jones, Eric Cantu and other outstanding leaders in the field of African American Culture and History. On Sunday an open house will be held at the Cultural Heritage Museum, 242 S. Queen Street,  to commemorate the fallen members of the US Colored Troops that fought in those memorable Civil War battles 1863 - 1865 in North Carolina.

    The symposium is produced by the Cultural Heritage Museum (CHM), NC’s primary resource on African American participation in the Civil War located in Kinston and co-sponsored by the Kinston-Lenoir Tourism Development Authority, North Carolina Humanities Council, the African American Civil War Memorial and Museum, Military Road Preservation Trust, NC Association of Black Storytellers, and USCTLHA, a national association  of USCT Re-enactors, Historians, Researchers and Genealogists.

    USCT Symposium, and re-enactments are free. Award Banquet ticket fees are $25 in advance, $35 at door. Those interested in attending may register for the symposium by calling 252-523-1239 or go to www.uscoloredtroops.org and download the registration forms and seminar schedule. Exhibitors and sutlers may also call  252-523-1239 or send an email to .