Union County - Black Soldiers & Sailors in the Civil War

On February 16 at 1 PM, Ethel Washington will give a gallery talk at the Reeve Historical and Cultural Resource Center in Westfield, New Jersey about her book and associated exhibit regarding “Union County Black history - Black Soldiers and Black Sailors in the Civil War”. This exhibit will be on-going through the end of March.

Ms. Washington has spent most of her career in various cultural institutions, including the Newark Museum, Montclair Art Museum and the Cooper-Hewitt, as well as the National Design Museum, and Smithsonian Institution in New York City. Ethel served for many years as commissioner on the Plainfield Cultural and Heritage Commission. She was involved in a one-year oral history project funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in order to get oral histories of 1,750 African-American families which have since been archived in the Library of Congress. She is a trustee on several awards including founding vice chair of the New Jersey African-American Cultural Heritage Foundation, The Old First Historic Trust Board- First Presbyterian Church of Elizabeth, The New Jersey State Historical Records Advisory Board, and the Advocates for New Jersey History Board. Ethel currently serves as History Programs Coordinator, Union County Office of Cultural Heritage Affairs, Department of Parks and Community Renewal.

Ethel is the author of “Union County’s Black Soldiers and Sailors of the Civil War” and about which her gallery talk will revolve.

Please join us for this enlightening historical journey into the Civil War and the role of African Americans in the fight for freedom.

Space is limited so please call to register - 908-654-1794