In a lecture presented at the , Hannah N. Geffert described how the promise of expanded rights for African Americans motivated many to join the Union forces. She proposed that there is a direct line among the willingness of Africans in America to use violence, their service in the military, and the achievement of liberty and citizens' rights for African Americans.

Geffert gave her lecture, entitled "African Americans in the Civil War: Men, Soldiers, Citizens," at the library on Sunday, October 16, to an audience of about a dozen history enthusiasts. A member of the Political Science faculty at Shepherd University, Geffert gave a brief history of Africans in America, both free and enslaved, and described how African Americans throughout history have entered military service in hopes of gaining freedom and equal rights.

She noted that since the first Africans arrived in Colonial America until the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the Constitution, their legal status was less than that of a citizen. Whether free or enslaved, Africans in America recognized that if they were to be free, it would require their assertive action, she said. Some were convinced this could be accomplished through petitions, legal cases, and convincing white Americans that slavery was an evil the country could no longer tolerate. Others believed it would require the shedding of blood to gain freedom and that it was necessary for Africans to take up arms if they if they were ever to gain citizenship, Geffert said.

"You can only have political solutions without violence if there is a path to do so," she said in response to a question about white abolitionist John Brown. "The Dred Scott Decision ended that path," she said, referring to the 1857 Supreme Court ruling that enslaved African Americans and their descendants were not protected by the Constitution and could never be U.S. citizens. She suggested that the court decision led inevitably to violent acts such as Brown's 1859 raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, which is considered one of the key events leading to the Civil War.

Geffert said that at least 5,000 African Americans joined forces with the revolutionaries during the Revolutionary War, and many also fought in the War of 1812. Many hoped that their military service would help bring them full rights as citizens. This sentiment was also a factor during and after the Civil War.

During a question and answer discussion after the lecture, Geffert and some of the attendees noted that this pattern continued through both World Wars and even the Vietnam War, when many African American soldiers returned home to find that they were still subject to racial discrimination.