Memorial Day weekend is upon us and as we prepare to attend ceremonies for members of the U.S. military who died in service to this country, I want to salute those black men and women who fought so that my people could gain their freedom.
Black soldiers, including more than a dozen Congressional Medal of Honor winners, fought in 449 Civil War battles. More than one-third of them died during the war.
This more than just a political or historical issue. It is also personal, since my great grandmother Amelia Weaver's brother Dennis Weaver served in Company D, 1st Regiment, United States Colored Troops (USCT). He served and survived—and spent the rest of his life fighting to get his pension, as did his wife Delia after his death. My dad’s grandfather, John Oliver, served in the 17th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry, and fought at the Battle of Nashville.
The fact that this country has a very long list of Confederate memorials to racism and slavery is deeply troubling. Frankly, it's too damn long. Though I celebrated as the good people of New Orleans cheered recent removals of Confederate statues, we have a long way to go to eradicate the shrines to hate and bondage that still tarnish our nation.
Confederate memorials number in the hundreds while the list of memorials for black Union troops is a short one, numbering about 30. As the author of "Monuments to the United States Colored Troops (USCT) [African American Civil War Soldiers]: The List" points out:
“Of note is that at least fifteen of these monuments were erected in the past 20 years. My speculation is that this recent interest in memorializing the USCT got its impetus from the 1989 movie Glory, which is a fictionalized account of the 54th Massachusetts regiment that served in the Union army.”
The most well-known, the African American Civil War Memorial depicted in the photo above, is located in Washington, DC at the corner of Vermont Avenue, 10th St, and U Street NW.
from Daily Kos http://ift.tt/2r1HjAP
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