Tonight watch as the National Park service commemorates 150th anniversary of the battle. Well also take a look at how the attack failed and why the u. S. Colored troops were unjustly blamed. Author kevin levine on the contribution of the u. S. Colored troops and immediately following the civil war. Here are some of the highlights for twheekd. Friday on cspan and prime time, well visit important sites in the history of the civil rights movement. Saturday night at 8 00, highlights from this years new York Ideas Forum including cancer biologist andrew hessel. On sunday, q a with new york congressman charlie wrangle at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Friday night at 8 00 on cspan2, indepth. Saturday on afterwards at 10 00, retired neurosurgeon and columnist ben carson. And saturday, Lawrence Goldstone on the competition between the Wright Brothers and glen curtis to be the predominant name in manned flight. American history tv on cspan3 on friday at 8 00 eastern. A look at hollywoods portrayal of slav
You again and welcome you here to the park. I was remarking a few minutes ago, much like it was for the soldiers 150 years ago who were in the oberlin campaign that started in 1864, it has been a long road to petersburg. We started this 150th event for 3, atparks on may spotsylvania courthouse. We have moved south ever since. T has been quite a feat it is the first time three parks within a process of these commemorations have shared programming where we have tried to make a continual program of the oberlin campaign rather than look at it as the wilderness, spill something you spotsylvania, that this was one continual process for the soldiers 150 years ago. For some of you in the audience we have senior faces before. We know you have been on the road with us, and we appreciate that. [applause] this morning i would like to introduce to you the superintendent of Petersburg National battlefield, lewis rogers. In 1984,an his career a park ranger. He took his first herman it position at tho
Believe that if those black regiments had been allowed to lead the assault, that would have been it. In other words, we can imagine black soldiers marching, charging over blanford hill, right, into petersburg. Thats a very soothing image. I think that tells us more about how we want to remember the war than the battle itself, because anyone who has studied civil war battles, they never go as planned. Right . Theres always something that goes afoul. So is it any surprise that given this massive detonation that no one really can predict what it will do to the landscape and whats beyond it. Remember, its not just that front confederate line they have to deal with. This is a complex sort of maze of bombproofs, traverses. Part of the problem is in the 1920s, the crater battlefield was an 18hole golf course. So a lot of that battlefield has been smoothed over in one way or the other. You really are hardpressed to get a sense of what it would have looked like in the 1860s. So would it have ch
What i tried to do was to fit that response into the broader context of slave rebellions. Those that actually happened and those whoa were rumors. It didnt matter if it actually took place, if there was a ruer they dont need to hear cries of remember fort pillow. They know whats done on the morning of july 30th. They do it. In fact if you look at the numbers of black soldiers who were mass kacremassacred. It falls into line of the numbers that are usually killed in the aftermath of state rebellions in the states and beyond in the caribbean. So its a measured response on the part of confederates on july 30th. Its at least worth about. Great questions, thank you very much. Not to keep on the mahone band wagon but reviewing of the 9th corp archives, it was clear that a lot of stuff did not make it into the official records. It was a great camp by henry thom thomas, who they finally allowed them to bury the dead he got turned around and walked into the confederate lions by mistake and was
A year i felt good about being a black person. It was on april 9th. We. Wkvy celebrated emancipation. We talked about lincoln. We talked about freedom. Thats when i really felt good. The other times was an existence as if we were pushing a barrel up a hill. Thank you everyone. I really enjoyed that. Thank you for your questions and your time. [ applause ] once again, kevin, thank you very much for you spending time with us and i want to again, thank st. Pauls episcopal search for this venue. I think this was the perfect setting for this venue. I want to thank you for taking time out of your day and evening to be with us. We hope that you were fulfilled tonight. That you were stimulated somewhat tonight by kevins words. We encourage you to continue learning about petersberg, the american civil war, and where weve come over the last 150 years as a nation but again, thank you all very much for your time with us this evening. [ applause ] with live could havage of the house here on cspan 3