Local historian Joelouis Mattox of the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center in Kansas City presents the story of the United States Colored Troops.

Mattox will discuss the contributions of African Americans who served in the Civil War, specifically the so-called “Blacks in Blue” from Missouri and Kansas who fought for the Union at the Battle of Island Mound in Bates County, Missouri, on October 29, 1862, and the Battle of Westport on October 21-23, 1864.