Recommendations of the Civil War History Symposium

Introduction: Ft. Monroe as a "national treasure."

The story to be told is an American story, not just an Afro-American story.

The compelling intellectual rationale for this enterprise is the Civil War and emancipation. It was here that slavery began to die and freedom began to take hold. It was here that the first models of Reconstruction and postbellum race relations were modeled.

The symposium recommends:

1. Preservation of the moated fort and the surrounding areas as a national or state park.
2. Creation of a museum campus inside the moat. The first to be a Civil War and American Freedom museum.
3. The museum will be a unitary enterprise with multiple threads. It will emphasize the national, indeed, international significance of the contraband story and the fall of slavery
• The museum will also tell the stories of the major military campaigns and encounters.
• Also the saga of the many area newcomers, Northern missionaries and immigrants, as well as the influx of escaping slaves from all over eastern Virginia and North Carolina.
• The creation of new institutions such as schools and churches by the freedmen.
4. The museum will use technology to create new exhibits as well as partner with TRADOC and the Museum of the Confederacy to develop additional exhibits.
5. The symposium encourages the continuation and expansion of the Casemate Museum.
6. The creation of a strong oversight board to coordinate the museum campus and raise funding for the enterprise.
7. Implement an intense outreach program to incorporate the black community in the planning and development of the museum. A staff position should be created for that specific purpose.