NC Voices; The Civil War Story Modules; Hillary Green

Well, my name is Hillary Green, I was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and my connection to the Civil War has been from childhood. As a young child, I was the only one excited to go to the battlefield every single summer in the middle of the hundred degree weather and just doing the walk-in tour of my own. And then I came to North Carolina for graduate school. And that was the first time where I felt uncomfortable at times talking about the Civil War, because I got a double look from a lot of people that is African-American female, that I was interested in the Civil War. Last February, I went to the Civil War, living memory days in Elizabeth City. And I'm asking also what type of gun, what caliber, where was this made, was this actually made in the Confederacy, or was this shift from Connecticut, it came down, and I was the only African-American at the time there on the lawn. They were looking at me like, even the re-enacted took back the first thing, I'm like, okay, I'm getting weird, looks, and let me just say, oh, I teach history at Elizabeth City State University.

That was the end of it. Then it was like, oh, okay. I welcomed this four-year debate. Let's bring out the uncomfortableness and let's come to a common ground and find a way that my students feel comfortable talking about it, and that I don't feel like I always have to defend myself or my love of the Civil War. Anytime I go to a battlefield or a re-enactment.