PITTSBURGH.- The Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center presents the exhibit Soul Soldiers: African Americans and the Vietnam Era through October 2007. Soul Soldiers: African Americans and the Vietnam Era, is the most comprehensive exhibition to ever explore the issues of the Vietnam War from an African American perspective.

Soul Soldiers explores Vietnam and the rise of the Civil Rights Movement through items such as soldiers' uniforms, historic photographs, military recruitment posters and soldiers' letters back home that help to bring this tumultuous time to life.

Audio stops and videos show how the era shaped pop culture, such as soul, jazz, rock, and gospel in the 1960s and 1970s.

A companion book, "Soul Soldiers: African Americans and the Vietnam Era," edited by exhibit curator Samuel W. Black, looks at black life through the eyes of veterans by bringing together essays, poetry, oral histories, and riveting recollections that recall the horrors of war, the complexities of race, and the duality of African American life.

With a foreword by Albert French, author of "Patches of Fire," this 240-page book captures the spirit of the African American Vietnam experience. "Soul Soldiers: African Americans and the Vietnam Era" is currently available in the Museum Shop, or online in the History Center's new e-store.

Contributors to the book Soul Soldiers: African Americans and the Vietnam Era will participate in a symposium with an academic and cultural focus on April 27 and 28, 2007.