Antietam Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Maryland

Antietam is known as the bloodiest single-day battle of America’s Civil War. Visiting the now quiet and peaceful site, it is hard to imagine the human cost that took place there. That day, September 17, 1862, would end with approximately 23,000 of the nearly 100,000 soldiers killed, wounded or missing. These were men that gave their lives to retain slavery in their own back yards. But they were also men who gave their lives for slaves they didn’t know and would never have dreamt of owning.

American history is exactly that—good, bad and, sometimes, ugly. This is surely the case for every nation. Yet, I am proud that America struggled through the horrible issue of slavery and emerged on the right side of it. Historical sites like Antietam are important reminders to us all that, in America, people have the freedom to be wrong. But they also, as has been the case time after time, assumed the responsibility to course-correct their own wrong behavior. Is there any more that you can ask of a free people?