As always its nice to see some new faces. And a special welcome we are the oldest Historical Society in america with 14000 manuscripts it is truly breathtaking correction. And we also host academic seminars and workshops with many many public programs. It with those upcoming programs with africanamerican history so we are hosting a four Program Series and now the 400th anniversary for the arrival of the british colonies in north america. So discuss the history of africans and africanamericans to feature scholars to elaborate on the perspective of the 20th century. The first past a couple weeks ago but we still have three more to go the next program is october 19th. Tonight well hear from kevin will talk about the myth of African Americans fighting for the confederacy he claims they would have shocked anyone who served in the army and he suggests the story of the 20th century backlash and as we often do we pulled material from the display thats in the reception so when reviewing the book looking at the africanamerican collection for the confederacy they are not actually images that contradict the have a lot of around them but are interesting in the context of this. The images from the sixties if you are interested im sure wed be happy to talk about them receiving masters in history and published extensively including two earlier books and to interpret at Historic Sites and also published numerous articles including the New York Times and the atlantic and Washington Post very active in social media with a strong twitter presence. So please join me to walk our guest. [applause] thank you. Before i get started thank you for inviting me at the massachusetts Historical Society. This is an honor and im thrilled to speak here where a couple of years ago i was doing research on a project so now to get the feedback on this book. I dont think i need to remind anyone in this room so a very public and divisive and emotional debate about race since the early summer 2015 in the wake of the horrific murders in charleston by dylan and we know what that led to lowering the confederate battle flags also with Confederate Monuments. And this is not a new debate and has always been commercial. And attracted many more americans so perhaps its more entrenched with the White Nationalist around a Confederate Monument to robert elee that they always have to confront the history of White Supremacy. Those who read the New York Times opened it up the 1619 project of course that came with a great deal of emotional responses to the New York Times or anyone with the very foundation the institution of slavery so this fits into that broader discussion so just to talk about and how that reflects to come to terms to face the history of slavery and race but the way the links we go to distort that and searching for black confederate is a case study in that broader discussion so well start with the image that is featured on the cover if you go to the internet right now you can find the photograph thats in the hands of the library of congress you can find this on hundreds of websites. On many of these it is framed around the narrative and difficult to imagine why that is somewhat pops out two men are sitting both are wearing uniforms and of course what really jumps out is they seem to be heavily armed. So you have chandler and on the left andrew chandler. These are why the more popular images to support the idea that black man or sleeve men fought as soldiers during the confederate civil war. Somewhere between 50,100,000. [laughter] i wish i could narrow it down but thats where people come down on this issue between 50,100,000. So this seems problematic with the narrative but people who are committed to this narrative this is all the evidence they need. What they dont understand of course for a number of reasons its not an image of the confederacy but in the history of slavery are not looking at cyrus chandler the enslaved man born into the Chandler Family in virginia. To west point mississippi in the 18 forties and when the war start spring 1861 and then in the 44th mississippi infantry. And officers from the slaveholding glass he would have brought a body servant as their personal slave. So these men would have existed with the Confederate Military hierarchy. It was likely taken at a studio early in the war. Whats really interesting is its very likely what you see as weapons are studio props even uniform that cyrus is wearing is a studio pop although you will see that camp slaves did wear uniforms which i will talk about later. So i look at this photograph now after how many times over the last ten years, theres something quite funny about it. I chuckled quite a bit because what i see is not to confederate soldiers and then walks into a studio to see all these weapons and the first thing that comes to his mind is to demonstrate in the form of a photograph to send back to his family to cram in as many weapons as possible. One in your coat jacket . Stick one in their. That something bizarre is highly unusual as we will see as they are standing next to the ambassador. Never see another photograph quite like this one. With the battle in 1863 and in less then a year cyrus went back to war as the encamped slave with his brother in the mississippi calvary unit and escorted Jefferson Davis out of richmond. In fact its very likely cyrus and benjamin were with the davis party in georgia so he was literally in the army the very beginning until the very last day of the civil war so as we go into this world of the confederacy tends thousands of enslaved men were impressed by the confederate government to any number of projects between 1861 and 65 again thousands would have been repairing and working in the salt mines like the iron work producing material anything that they needed in terms of production to support the effort of enslaved men are asked to do so they have to do this because they try to offset the advantages the United States enjoys with the material produced by the war so enslaved people everywhere but they are not the men that today are commonly referred to as examples is black confederate soldiers. They are nameless and dont have much of a record the ones that are incredibly popular are the body servants like Silas Chandler they would have been everywhere in the Confederate Army but the Confederate Army also would have included thousands of enslaved men doing various things functioning as teamsters driving trucks working in hospitals maintaining supply lines anything the Confederate Army needs to march on the battlefield they serve this kinds of functions but these are the camp slaves and they are highlighted by soldiers and officers and especially in the decades after the war because they are maintaining those close ties with their masters throughout the war and a that they would have performed any number of functions cooking, cleaning and to go on long marches. Even on the battlefield. So one of the things thats important to understand is a large numbers of enslaved men in the army is to refocus on the importance of slavery not just as a nation but confederacy is fighting for slavery that is true its a little abstract that one way is to focus on the army because confederates every day whether in camp on the march on the battlefield whether they own 100 slaves are not they were reminded each and every day of the importance to maintain slavery. There is no Confederate Army there is no confederate war effort without the ends is one assistance of the enslaved people so what i want to do with the book is to tear down the myth the role of enslaved people throughout the confederacy and especially the rb during the war. These army marching north this summer 1853 culminating in the battle of gettysburg that numbers around 75000 men there are as many as 10000 enslaved men without rv. So they are fighting for slavery slavery follows every Confederate Army and its success its ability to do what it needs to do depends on a large part of the presence of enslaved men so the idea whether they will never dont own them is irrelevant of course they all understood the importance of slavery to the war effort. This is the more common example of the photograph of master and slave hes worrying that confederate uniform. One thing that is interesting to research what happens when you pluck the master slave relationship that was very common to be defined and reinforced over time but when you remove that its a very different situation within the military Neither Party has any experience. How is that contingency of known of military life impact that relationship . Out of that stretch over time how are enslaved men going to push their privileges or what do they do with the need to push back . To reset that relationship one way that they pushed was for money during free time. That happened quite a bit masters write home about the amount of money their slaves are making in camp and they said the home to family. Actually managed to purchase parts of uniforms or entire uniforms why is not entirely clear maybe they wanted to be feel part of the military or they saw their own presence in military terms maybe that would not have been approved of their owners but this is way they are trying to create their own experience during the war. Of course masters quite often have to end up pushing back in some do so in very filing violent ways one asked to punish his slave and was home to his wife i laid on 400 lashes on his camp slave. So all that experience happens on the home front is also happening in camp at the same time its pretty clear that these men actually do form a bond i do hesitate to say that because i dont want to lose the fact were talking about the master slave relationship but keep in mind that they are sharing many of the same experiences far from home and away from their families. They experience a long marches and also lack of food and especially disease. And there are a number of accounts the officers are writing about the experience they are having taking care of the camp slave and also the camp slave taking care of then we have to be careful how we categorize these relationships and what their motives were to help one another we dont have the records we would like looking at these relationships through the lens of these white men which is quite problematic in many cases. These men are everywhere the encamped slaves again they are performing the roles the legal status is of enslaved men. But the question if the confederacy should move forward to make the big step that does not take place until 1864 people that are convinced there are large numbers of men that served throughout the war the army responses why are they debating this . What is the preface with large numbers of black men are already serving a soldiers . It starts in the military itself. The Army Commander in 1854 does approach the idea to emancipate the slaves if they join as soldiers. And he shared this with command and they are horrified one of them is so horrified he sends a note to davis and immediately he is ordered to shut his mouth and sees talking about this issue its much too controversial. So early 1864 even after told lets keep it quiet within a few months the cat is out of the bag more people are beginning to debate this a very public and divisive debate and you can imagine people are very concerned about the implications of enlisting soldiers and the day is the beginning of the end our whole theory is wrong. So as a class they are wanting every qualification as a soldie soldier. And the richmond examiner. The negro is fit to be a soldier he is not fit to be a slave either with or without perspective or emancipation is the first step to involve all the rest to universal abolition this hits at the very core of what the confederacy was fighting for to maintain slavery in White Supremacy if we recruit them as soldiers then what are we fighting for quex some people came on favor. Set men in the army did as well but they do show as a way to preserve the institute if you have a limited number that could be a way to offset defeat but its not going to lead to the end of the institution of slavery as a whole. So the debate continues through 1864 everyone is involved its another moment to reinforce the obvious. No one involved in this debate over the last ten years have expressed an opinion on this regardless of their position no one ever included in writing their point of view that black men were already serving as soldiers. As far as the confederates were concerned its a step in an entirely new direction only with robert elee support of the beginning it 1865 they come around and other people to speak in the confederacy as a whole long story short that only passes legislation in the final weeks of the war a small number of men are recruited and may have marched down broad street in richmond likely they are not give it weapons that shows how much trust was placed in them and likely did not see any action on the battlefield it is a white mans war. And the fact it takes the confederacy as long as it does to pass this legislation reminds us how committed you were but with the black men in the United States through early 1863 and of course how the war is evolving as they make this move. The bull starting out from the same point from very different places. And harpers weekly. Of course this is what you think will happen if the confederacy recruits black men as soldiers this is the publication poking fun at the confederacy no one knows about by confederate soldiers and heres the case for decades in the postwar period coming to terms with that narrative to help to rationalize the loss cause obviously part of that narrative is the belief they were not fighting for slavery and to preserve states rights but of course the other part that the slaves remained loyal to them throughout the postwar period with Stonewall Jackson and to see camp slave with the immediate postwar period you will see a black man lying down and then some africanamericans including a woman it seems is cooking in the back so to be confused about the black individuals in these illustrations they were the clearest example so if youre thinking of shermans march where the focus is on the slaves and also have slaves in the army itself. No one is confused about the status of these men by confederate veterans are gathering across the confederacy black men former camp sleeves are there for a number of reasons because they are invited they are the clearest example as part of the loyal slave at this point in time these reunions are bringing together large numbers thousands of white southerners from all over the place many of them were born after the war so they are getting an education about the slaves in the antebellum south and they are there as a reminder between white and black people to see one man sitting by the table. Some of these man are prominent also because they are verbal about their support not just the confederacy but very outspoken so these are examples for all white southerners not only the hierarchy of the past but what is taking hold during the postwar period of the jim crow era hes a character you will see him again in another photograph but this is my favorite he attends at least 15 reunions he is an interesting example he is usually seen carrying chickens he likes to play the role of the forager. He takes that as a sign he was really good during difficult moments when food was scarce he could find food. He made money at these reunions and there is some evidence that suggests that everhart how he refers to himself that was the name of his former master that if he understood he was performing a role. Because what hes not with former confederates he has the surname of his wife and children so that suggest he plays the role when hes away from home. And he plays it to a t at one point he says its a little difficult i shall be obedient to all the white people i pray that angels may guard the homes in the light of god shine upon them i have always been a white mans and then uses the edward in the yankee cannot change me. Very expressive about his loyalty not just with the confederacy but the importance to maintain white control during the jim crow era into the 20th century century and for white southerners to showcase with the formally enslaved men to send a message to the black community. So think about how that sounds at the end of world war i having made the world safe they get off the trains in southern towns perhaps expecting things will change and of course for white southerners and former enslaved men present a contrast to the younger black men who are expecting change. You can see everhart holding the Confederate Flag look to the man to the right he is wearing a ribbon this is popular large numbers of former black confederate soldiers if we read the ribbon it says ex slave. This is not that difficult to do the research. Just throwing it out there from a reunion Tampa Florida 1927 and gives you a sense of the numbers they would have slept together, march together to a large extent during these events so i have to accept the possibility to perhaps look forward to seeing the men they marched off with were white men and the same is true that had established a relationship during the war itself and that we are talking about the former slave dynamic. Heres another image coming into the 1930s because it gives a sense of how widespread it was in the early h century there is robert elees selling our washing machine. That the important point nobody is more confused of the legal status of these men or if they are soldiers nobody talks about it. There is no discussion about black men serving as soldiers throughout the period. Also the monuments during this critical period many monuments focus and we should keep this in mind. They are not history lessons they are to distort and mythologized the history of the confederacy and slavery of course these are some examples of possible statues have gone up on though mall of national of washington dc but that never happened of course thankfully but this gives you a sense of how widespread these discussions of m