The Friends of Tolson’s Chapel and the Antietam National Battlefield are collaborating on a symposium to be held on Antietam National Battlefield April 28, 2012.  The event, entitled “The Dignity of Freedom: Pathways through the Civil War and Beyond”, will be part of the 2012 observance of the 150th anniversary year of the Battle of Antietam.  The series of speakers will begin with a view of African-American slavery and emancipation from a national perspective and the border state experience, highlight the significance of the Antietam battle and the Emancipation Proclamation, USCT participation in the Civil War.  Symposium attendees will finish out the day at Tolson’s Chapel with a presentation putting a human face to it all with the Civil War and Reconstruction-era experiences of the African-American congregation of Tolson’s Chapel in Sharpsburg.

This program is made possible by a grant from the Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area, a certified heritage area of the Maryland Heritage Area Authority; with additional funds from the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Western Maryland Interpretive Association.