Rally on the High Ground: The National Park Service Symposium on the Civil War. Conference Proceedings
Sutton RK (ed). 2001. Rally on the High Ground: The National Park Service Symposium on the Civil War. Conference Proceedings. Ford's Theater, Washington, DC. May 8-9, 2000. Eastern National. Fort Washington, PA
Rally on the High Ground was a National Park Service Symposium convened in 2001 as a direct result of language in the 2000 Department of the Interior Appropriations Bill. The bill stated that Civil War battle sites are, "often not placed in the proper historical context" and went on to direct the National Park Service to compile a report on the status of interpretation of battlefield sites throughout the National Park System. The bill also directed the Secretary of the Interior, "to encourage Civil War battle sites to recognize and include in all of their public displays and multimedia educational presentations the unique role that the institution of slavery played in causing the Civil War." As a result of the National Park Service report, the Rally on the High Ground symposium was held to discuss interpretation at Civil War sites within the National Park System and how interpretation at those sites could be broadened to include the total experience of the causes of the war as well as the experiences of the people who fought and those who were affected by the Civil War. The symposium helped shape a mandate for the National Park Service to broaden its interpretation and civic engagement at its military sites. The seven academic historians who spoke, all leaders in the field of Civil War history, along with Congressman Jesse L. Jackson, Jr., set forth a mandate and laid out a path for interpretation of Civil War sites and by extension, other military sites, beyond a narrow definition of military actions and battles.
- Type
- Conference Proceeding
- Authors
- Sutton, Robert
- Date of Issue
- 2001
- Publisher
- Eastern National
- Keywords
- african american, american, army, battlefield, civil war, confederate, contraband, death, freedom, fugitive, history, home front, interpretation, Lincoln, medical, memory, military, North, northern, nurse, plantation, preservation, slave, slavery, soldier, South, southern, women
- Subjects
- NPS.gov Subject Site: Civil War , NPS.gov Subject Site: Historic Preservation