AfriGeneas Military Research Forum
Plans Remembering the USCT ?
Dear AfriGeneas Military Researchers:
What Are Your Plans for Commemorating the Service of the US Colored Troops in the Civil War?
January 1, 2011 began the four-year commemoration of the American Civil War. It's extremely important that the plans for the 150th Anniversary, The Sesquicentennial include the voices of African American scholars, important histories researched by recognized white scholars and the documented legacies of family historians. Equally important is the need for all of us to remind our local Historical Societies, Universities and Museums of the strategic importance of the US Colored Troops and the women and men contrabands who contributed to the victory of the Union Army.
Historian Bennie J. McRae Jr. said that approximately 5 to 6 million African Americans are direct descendents or have family who are descended from the close to 200,000 men who served in the US Colored Troops.
And yet the response to the history of the US Colored Troops and now the Sesquicentennial by the majority of African Americans has been a deafening silence. We need to focus on our ancestors’ contributions to American history.
Am I frustrated? You bet I am. I remember writing in 2004 to colleagues of Bennie McRae, “How can we forsake the sacred memory of the men of the US Colored Troops and the men and women contrabands who won the Civil War and their freedom and rush to Africa looking for black warriors? Instead of searching for that illusive warrior in Africa, we must search for the “Freedom Fighters” and include them in the American Civil War Memory.
George Geder with the support of historian Bennie McRae has begun an excellent series of posts on his blog on the history of the US Colored Troops.
Please Remember Our US Colored Troops in the Civil War.
K Wyer Lane