Military
African Americans Defend Washington, N.C.
During the siege of Washington in April 1863, Union troops armed African Americans to participate in the defense of the town. The incident is an early example in North Carolina of the shift in U.S. policy towards recruiting African Americans for military service in the Civil War.
After serving in World War I, Thomas Stith, Sr., worked for Rocky Mount schools for 20 years and 18 years for the US Post Office, but he is recognized for his dedication to the youth of the area as founder of Boy Scout Troop 161.
He was active in developing the baseball park for the Negro League. He also founded the Southeastern Business College in Durham. Mr. Stith taught Sunday School at the St. James Baptist church for 15 years.
He was inducted into Hall of Fame 2005.
Come Out Fighting!
Trezzvant William Anderson was a member of the 761st Tank Battalion of the U.S. Army during World War II. Anderson wrote the unit's history book "Come Out Fighting: The Epic Tale of the 761st Tank Battalion, 1942-1945" , exploits during World War II.
The battalion was made up of Black soldiers.
Eastern NC Residents Fought, Died for Union In Civil War
Thousands of men from North Carolina enlisted to fight in the Civil War, many them for the Confederacy, but some – including 1,300, white, eastern North Carolinians – went against their state’s government and fought for the Union Army. They were later joined by nearly 1,100 black men from region.
Elizabeth Barker Johnson
For her 99th birthday, Elizabeth Barker Johnson was surprised with a party and an opportunity she has longed for since 1949. The World War II veteran found out she would finally be able to put on her cap and gown and walk across the stage at Winston-Salem State University’s graduation.
Excerpt of a letter from First Lieutenant James W. Alston to H. H. Brimley on November 1, 1918 about being only Black officer in a hotel in France.
James William Alston was a First Lieutenant in the 372nd Infantry, an all-Black regiment, during World War I.
Alston was born in Wake County, NC on January 16, 1876. In 1907, he started working as a janitor and messenger for the State Museum, later the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. During the war, Alston wrote several letters to H. H. Brimley, who was White. Brimley was a curator and the first director of the State Museum.
Fred L. Brewer Jr.
Image: Remains uncovered in Italy after World War II have been identified as Second Lieutenant Fred L. Brewer Jr., a Charlotte, North Carolina native and Tuskegee Airman.
Brewer graduated from Shaw University in Raleigh in 1942.
He enlisted in the Army the following year and trained as a pilot at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Tuskegee, Alabama.
Frederick Clinton Branch (
The Marine Corps' First Black Commissioned Officer: The Life and Legacy of Frederick C. Branch
Battles and wars: World War II
Years of service: 1943-1955
Rank: Captain
Frederick Clinton Branch (May 31, 1922 – April 10, 2005) was the first African-American officer of the United States Marine Corps.
Henry Johnson
Henry Johnson was born July 15 1892. He was a decorated African American soldier in WW1.
He was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina William Henry Lincoln Johnson moved to Albany, New York when he was in his early teens. He worked as a redcap porter at the Albany Union Station on Broadway.
Herman Somerville
Real-photo postcard of a studio portrait of Herman Somerville of Warrenton, N.C.
He is wearing his U.S. Army uniform, standing with his arms behind his back.
An African American soldier, Somerville served during World War I in Company 19, 161st Depot Brigade, and Company F, 365th Infantry, 92nd Division, U.S. Army (undated)
Inez Stroud, a member of the WAC ASF Band, poses with her saxophone at Ft. Des Moines, Iowa in 1943. She is wearing the enlistees' summer khaki uniform.
Inez Namoi Stroud was born on 9 July 1909 in Wilmington, North Carolina. She was the third of nine children of the Rev. C.A. Stroud and Mrs. Beatrice Ford Stroud. Her father was a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and the family moved frequently.
John H. Hunter
French real-photo postcard of John H. Hunter of Warrenton, N.C., wearing his full U.S. Army uniform and campaign hat, standing outside in front of a stone wall with his arms at his sides.
An African American soldier, Hunter served in the Army’s Quartermaster Corps during World War I (undated).
Montford Point at Camp Lejeune
#OnThisDay April 26, 1942, the United States Marine Corps opened Montford Point at Camp Lejeune, specifically for the training of African American recruits.
Photograph description: Top photo-Two Marine recruits at Montford Point standing up in a tank with a 90mm anti-aircraft gun, 1943. Library of Congress:
Bottom photo- Three Marines with rifles, jumping over a barrier as they train at Montford Point. Image from National Archives.
Montford Point at Camp Lejeune
*Photo: Camp Legune Montford-Point Marines,1943*
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You Ain’t Going To Be No Officer
By Ned Forney
On November 10, 1945, the 170th anniversary of the founding of the United States Marine Corps, a small ceremony took place at Montford Point, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
Navy B-1 Band
Racial Barrier-Busting U.S. Navy B-1 Band The First African American Band Honored With Chapel Hill NC Historical Marker
MAY 25, 2017 By Tammy Grubb
The 44 members of the U.S. Navy B-1 Band cracked the color barrier, leaving an impression on the Chapel Hill community during their two-year service on UNC’s campus during World War II.
Parker David Robbins
This is Mr. Parker David Robbins, he was a free person of Indigenous American and African descent, and he constructed the steamboat Saint Peter in 1888.
Born in 1834 in either Colerain Township, Bertie County, North Carolina or the Choanoac Indian community of Gates County, North Carolina.
Pea Island Life-Saving Station
Pea Island Life-Saving Station was a life-saving station on Pea Island, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It was the first life-saving station in the country to have an all-black crew, and it was the first in the nation to have a black man, Richard Etheridge, as commanding officer.
Pea Island Lifesaving Station
N.C. Aquarium Will Highlight Keeper Of Pea Island Lifesaving Station
By Jeff Hampton / The Virginian-Pilot -Feb 07, 2015 AT 12:00 AM
Image description from article about painting: Top Image is a painting of Richard Etheridge, keeper of the first all-Black U.S. Lifesaving Station at Pea Island, stands with his crew at the far left. His portrait has been enlarged to the right in this painting. the painting is by Outer Banks artist James Melvin.
Richard E. Pennington
Real-photo postcard of a studio portrait of Richard E. Pennington of Macon, N.C., wearing his full U.S. Army uniform, standing and holding an American flag on a pole, with a hand-painted backdrop behind him. An African-American soldier, Pennington served during World War I in Company E, 365th Infantry, 92nd Division, U.S. Army
Richard Etheridge
Keeper Richard Etheridge (on left) and the Pea Island Life-Saving crew in front of their station, circa 1896. Pea Island, NC
Pea Island Life-Saving Station was a life-saving station on Pea Island, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It was the first life-saving station in the country to have an all-black crew, and it was the first in the nation to have a black man, Richard Etheridge, as commanding officer.
Robert Gould Shaw
October 10, 1837, Robert Gould Shaw was born.
Shaw was born in Boston into one of the wealthiest families in the country.
As a young man, he was anti-slavery but never seemed to pick up the same zeal for abolition that his parents did saying “I don’t see how one man can do much against slavery."
Toney Boyd
Escaped Slave Joins Company K, 37th Infantry, USCT
by ccwinslow394 | Sep 2, 2018 | Craven, Union affiliation
AUTHOR: Kenneth Whitehurst (originally posted 9/2/2018; edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter 7/22/20)
My great-great-grandfather, Toney Boyd, was a slave of Frederick Boyd at a place called Long Acre, near Bath, in Beaufort County, North Carolina.
Trezzvant W. Anderson
Left portrait: Trezzvant W. Anderson (born in Charlotte, NC November 22, 1906 and died March 25, 1963) began his career in journalism and activism in the late 1920s. Not long after he dropped out of Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, NC, and after he landed a job with the federal Railway Mail Service, this official photograph of Anderson was taken in 1938.
United States Colored Troops
United States Colored Troops: Fighting for Freedom By John H. Haley, PhD
On June 19, 1863, the first company of United States Colored Troop raised in North Carolina—and quite possibly the nation. The brigade’s First Regiment of North Carolina Colored Volunteers was based at New Bern.
“Harriet,” movie starring Cynthia Erivo in the title role.
Words on image: Tubman was a spy for the Union army during the Civil War which was fought to Emancipate Enslaved Black people.
Massachusetts Governor John Andrew, a staunch abolitionist, asked Tubman to join the contingent of his state’s volunteers heading for South Carolina, and promised his sponsorship. Andrew also obtained military passage for Tubman on USS Atlantic.