MVHS Holds ‘The Black Army in Mourning’ Lecture Feb. 12

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – In recognition of African American History Month, the Mahoning Valley Historical Society will welcome Dr. Leonne Hudson for a lecture, “The Black Army in Mourning,” at 7:00 p.m. on Feb. 12.

The lecture discusses how black men eagerly joined the Federal Army to help preserve the Union and to fight for the liberation of their enslaved brothers 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 earthly savior, had been taken from them by a cruel act of violence.

Like many who had gone before him, Lincoln joined the common soldier in the river of death following his successful navigation of the nation through difficult and troubled waters. It then became the responsibility of future political leaders to make certain that the revolution was not an empty vessel and that its foremost architect had not died in vain.

Hudson is is an associate professor of history at Kent State University. He 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 KSU, including the College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Teacher Award in 2014.

‘The Black Army in Mourning’ lecture at the Tyler History Center, 325 W. Federal St. in downtown Youngstown is free and open to the public.

For more information contact the Historical Society at 330 743 2589 or go to MahoningHistory.org.

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