Born in a section of Buncombe County, later carved off to form part of Madison County, Virgil Lusk was a lawyer, a Confederate cavalry officer and a prisoner of war. Unlike many Confederate veterans, he surrendered both his sword and the cause in 1865 and became a Republican. During Reconstruction, he fought to bring Ku Klux Klansmen to justice. Later he served as Asheville’s mayor, helping establish it as the city we know today. This lecture will review the successes and failures of Lusk’s career and how we understand the Civil War Era in western North Carolina. Presenter: Steven E. Nash is associate professor of history at East Tennessee State University and author of Reconstruction’s Ragged Edge. Cost: $25/$35 Coordinator: Freddie Flynt