Extra Credit Questions

[L Verge]

Good for you, Bill. More people need to open lines of communication between various diverse citizens that we intermingle with on a fairly regular basis. To me, there is no difference between posing that question to African Americans and asking it of a Caucasian or other ethnic group.

At Surratt House, we have monthly programs on a very wide variety of 19th-century topics (black history, women's history, war history, local and DC history, culture, etc.). We generally have a diverse audience of 50-100 with a lot of Q&A at the end and some topics that are controversial, but handled nicely. Last Saturday's program on Point Lookout Prison for Confederates did bring out one neo-Confederate lady of about 70, but the mixed audience was patient with her.

I have also had discussions with folks who were taught in school that Lincoln had African-American bloodlines. Try and handle that one -- but it has to be answered. You don't know how important it is to discuss contentious
issues and turn them into good history.