David Levitt’s classes heard from Living Historian and Howard University student Hugh Goffinet, who told the life story of Hubbard Pryor while dressed in a Union Army uniform
As part of their Chattanooga history curriculum, McCallie’s 8th-grade students are learning about the area’s rich Civil War history.
In teacher David Levitt’s classes, students had the opportunity to hear from Living Historians, as part of an educational program offered by the Medal of Honor Heritage Center, which opened recently in Chattanooga. The Center offers virtual classes on the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and Vietnam.
The Living Historians spoke to students specifically about Black soldiers who fought during the Civil War as part of the United States Colored Troops (U.S.C.T.). Most Black soldiers were enslaved people who made the dangerous trip from their homes in the deep South to the North to join the Union Army. They returned to the South to fight and many were captured and beaten or died from illness or war wounds.
Mr. Levitt’s classes heard from Living Historian and Howard University student Hugh Goffinet, who told the life story of Hubbard Pryor while dressed in a Union Army uniform. Pryor was a member of the 44th U.S.T.C. He fought with the Union Army in Chattanooga and was eventually captured in Dalton and became a POW of the Confederates.
Mr. Goffinet talked about the experiences of Pryor and other Black soldiers. He then took questions from the students about Black soldiers and the Civil War, which he called “important, relevant history.”