By Todd Hatton
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkms/local-wkms-954596.mp3
Murray, KY – This February is the first Black History Month marked during the ongoing observances of the American Civil War Sesquicentennial, and each lends the other a unique significance. Whether or not you believe slavery was the prime cause of the war, the "peculiar institution" did not survive it. But in antebellum America, it was a hotly debated fact of life that divided families, friends, and even individual consciences. Judy Shearer is PR Communications Coordinator for the Department of Art and Design at Murray State, and she's written a book coming out later this spring that reveals much about how slaves and masters affected each other, and how they affect us still.