Broadwell: What's your take on the Civil War?

From the Fayetteville Observer: Broadwell: What's your take on the Civil War?

Toward the end of his talk in Washington, D.C., I asked Hari Jones what he thought of the movie "Glory."
It's one of my favorites, the gripping story of the all-black 54th Massachusetts Volunteers and their heroic fight for freedom in the Civil War.
My question was a bit of a softball setup. From what I had seen, during this visit last year to the African-American Civil War Museum in Washington, Hari Jones wasn't one to toe the traditional line of history.
He challenges long-held assumptions about what we think we know about the war.
He cites statistics. He fires off facts. He poses questions.
As for "Glory"? There's a lot of Hollywood there, Hari Jones will tell you. There's a largely unknown story to be told about how black and white Americans fought to end slavery, and the movie doesn't do it justice. It's a start, and an eye-opener at that, but it's just a start.
That's similar to the reports earlier this month on the 150th anniversary of President Lincoln's initial Emancipation Proclamation. There are so many layers to peel back: The vintage version is that Lincoln "freed the slaves," of course, but it's much more complicated. It's political, military, constitutional and bloody, so terribly bloody.
Nothing about the Civil War is really easy. We're still debating its causes and issues to this day and will do that for generations to come.
And now, how would you like to hear from Hari Jones?
He's the assistant director and curator of the museum in Washington, and he's scheduled to speak here at the Cape Fear Regional Theatre on Monday at 7 p.m. The free program is sponsored by the Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Foundation, which is developing a long-range plan for a new museum to tell North Carolina's own Civil War story.
There's no telling what Monday's program could spark or inspire. During my visit to the museum in Washington last year, a woman shared her family's Civil War heritage. She's white, but in her genealogy search she learned that she had black ancestors who fought for the Union, and she wanted us to know that.
It was a powerful moment, the kind of drama that our all-American war can still deliver.