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Studying and debunking Civil War myths

Civil War history is rich with tales of blood and gore, heroism, and too many lies.

Some of the nation's pre-eminent historians will examine that history in a symposium, "Race, Slavery and the Civil War: The Tough Stuff of American History and Memory," at Norfolk State University in September.

The conference is free and open to the public, and registration opened this week.

James Horton, professor, author, and consultant to film and television, will lead the conference. He has signed on several noted Civil War scholars, including Pulitzer Prize-winning author James McPherson and David Blight, director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance & Abolition at Yale University. Cassandra Newby-Alexander, an award-winning professor and department chair of history at NSU, also will participate.

Horton said one of the biggest myths about the Civil War is that slavery was not a cause....

Read entire article at The Virginian-Pilot