Historian C.R. Gibbs presents "A Hard Road to Freedom: The Civil War, African Americans, and Emancipation.” Why did it take until November of 1864 for the state of Maryland to end slavery? Gibbs examines the key factors in this prolonged political struggle involving divisions among the state’s political parties, the plight of African American Marylanders prior to emancipation, and the heroic role black soldiers played in the Civil War.

Gibbs is an award-winning historian, humanities scholar, and exhibitor of artifacts. He is noted for writing, researching, and narrating Sketches in Color, a 13-part companion series to the acclaimed PBS series, The Civil War.