Focus On...the Civil War

The Civil War--a mortifying period of our nation's history but one that's so important to remember. UNC-TV presents Focus on...the Civil War, an in-depth look at North Carolina's involvement in the Civil War and its affect of the state's residents. Led by North Carolina Now co-anchor Mitch Lewis, each episode features a panel of Civil War experts discussing the war from North Carolina's vantage point.

The first part of Focus on...the Civil War begins with a synopsis of North Carolina's social and political characteristics before other southern states seceded and after the first blood was shed on the state's soil. Paul Escott, dean of Wake Forest College at Wake Forest University; William Harris, history professor at North Carolina State University; and William Trotter, author of "The Civil War in North Carolina," discuss North Carolina's reluctance to secede from the United States and enter the war-and why the state finally did. Although North Carolina supplied one-sixth of the members of the Confederate army, Harris, Escott and Trotter point out that Confederate President Jefferson Davis often treated the state as if it was the unwanted stepsister of Virginia, causing tension between Davis and North Carolina governor Zebulon Vance. The lack of support that North Carolina received from Virginia also contributed to the anti-war movement called the Red String and the decreasing toleration in western North Carolina as the war depleted more and more human and economic resources.

In the next episode, experts explain the different roles of African Americans during the war. Joining Lewis are Freddie L. Parker, professor and chair of the history department at North Carolina Central University, Dorothy Spruill Redford, author of Somerset Homecoming, and David Cecelski, author of The Waterman's Song. Parker shares his expertise on runaway slaves, Redford focuses on slaves at Somerset Place and Cecelski presents the viewpoint of coastal African Americans. Lewis invites the panelists to discuss the reaction of African Americans to the outbreak of war then asks how secession impacted them. The three participants explain behind-the-scenes activities and what the end of the war meant for African Americans.

Reconstruction is the topic for the last episode. William Harris and Freddie Parker join Laura Edwards, associate professor of history at Duke University to talk about how women, African Americans and the North Carolina government managed under Reconstruction. The program begins at the end of the Civil War, with North Carolina structurally and economically in ruins. Because more than 40,000 men died in the war, women were forced to learn farm work if they wanted to keep their property. Former slaves, who welcomed their new freedom, searched for land anywhere they could find it-whether in North Carolina or out of state. For those unable to afford their own land, sharecropping became a way of life. In addition, new laws emerged that further repressed newly gained rights for African Americans. The experts discuss how Reconstruction failed North Carolina's African American population and changed the social and economic face of the region.