Mayor Mitch Colvin is calling for a special council meeting to get the public's input into a proposed Civil War history center in the city.

“The public should be heard,” he said Tuesday.

Colvin said a growing number of black people in the community are expressing concerns about the project, as the war and the issue of slavery is a sore subject with many.

He said he no longer supports the project, which could cost between $65 million and $80 million. The city and county have agreed to pitch in $7.5 million each toward the project, but Colvin said that agreement has expired and a new vote by the council will be required.

Colvin said several council members he has spoken with are reviewing their stance on the project. “If a vote was taken again (on city funding) — like it will need to be to make it legal — I'm not sure it will pass,” he said.

Colvin said the $7.5 million the city would have to invest in the project could be put to better use on more pressing needs than the proposed North Carolina Civil War & Reconstruction History Center on Branson Street.

Three residents at Monday night's council meeting held up signs to express their opposition to the project, with one saying: “Build it so we can burn it down.”

Former City Councilwoman Val Applewhite made her opposition known during the public comment period of the meeting.

Applewhite said that an advocacy organization she is involved with, Advance Carolina, is holding a public meeting on the museum project later this month. She invited the council to attend, and asked that each member give a direct “yes” or “no” answer whether they support the project.

“No spin. I know the political spin. I've played that game before,” she said.

Applewhite said Tuesday that she is learning through social media that there is a growing number of black people in the community who don't want the museum.

“The Market House is already painful enough for African-Americans. We've not yet even resolved the issue as to whether or not slaves were sold there," Applewhite said.

But there are black people in the community who support the project. Among them: Former Fayetteville State University Chancellor James Anderson.

Troy Williams, a legal analyst, criminal defense investigator and WIDU radio co-host, said he also supports the museum. Williams said Colvin has been stirring up opposition to a project that was approved long ago.

“I think they have been led that way by the attitude of the mayor,” he said.

However, Colvin denied that he's leading any opposition movement to the museum.

“I think Troy is entitled to his own opinion, not his own facts,” Colvin said. “He doesn't have anything to support that.”

Williams said the museum will tell the truth about the war. “What's wrong with someone telling the truth about something?” he said.

He said there are other Civil War museums in the country, such as one run by African-Americans in Richmond, Virginia, which was the capitol of the Confederacy.

“The mayor is kind of the one who led us down this racially divided road,” Williams said. “We don't even line up with the thinking of the rest of the country. You've got museums all over the place. Some of them are a lot more sensitive than what we are talking about. You have one down there in Alabama or Georgia that is about lynchings.”

Mac Healy, president of the proposed museum's board of directors, said the museum curriculum is being put together by scholars from major universities. He said the museum won't focus on the battles of the Civil War but the personal stories of people from North Carolina who went through it, with a lot of emphasis on the Reconstruction Period after the war.

“We have been working on this project for over 10 years and it's been vetted, and we have sought and used the advice of lead African-American scholars during the Civil War period standpoint,” he said.

He said the museum is going to be owned by the state of North Carolina, and all operating expenses will be covered by the state, and its curriculum will be used by students throughout the state.

“The state has been part of the planning process from the very beginning as part of their Cultural Resources Commission,” he said. “We've put together the top scholars in the state of North Carolina and around the country who are going to tell the truth about that period of time. We've asked them and instructed them that this wouldn't be folklore."

Staff writer John Henderson can be reached at jhenderson@fayoberver.com or 910-486-3596.