American teachers teach the Civil War as pairs of opposites: The Union fought the Confederates. The North fought the South. Freedom versus slavery. Innocent versus guilty. But that’s not the whole truth. Historian Christopher Lehman revisits one of the biggest myths about slavery and explains why it matters today. Dr. Lehman is a professor of ethnic studies at St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minnesota and is Chair of the Department of Ethnic, Gender and Women’s Studies. He was the first African American to graduate through the Honors Program at Oklahoma State University, and he earned his graduate degrees at the University of Massachusetts–Amherst. He has been a visiting fellow at Harvard University’s Hutchins Institute. He is the author of six books, and his most recent book Slavery’s Reach won a Minnesota Book Award earlier this year. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx