Harry Cole, the first black justice on the Maryland Supreme Court, was born on January 1, 1921, in Washington, D.C., to a tailor and his wife. Shortly after his birth, Cole’s father died, and his mother moved him and his four siblings to her hometown, Baltimore, Maryland. Cole attended Douglass High School, … Read MoreHarry A. Cole (1921-1999)
Very little is known about Major General Michael Calhoun’s childhood beyond the fact that he was born in 1954. After Graduating from Florida A&M University with a degree in Pharmacy in May, 1977, Calhoun enlisted in the Florida Army National Guard in August of that … Read MoreMichael Calhoun (1954- )
The 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was a volunteer regiment made up of men who wanted to enter the already full 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The 54th was the first officially recognized black military unit in the … Read More55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment (1863-1865)
The 92nd Infantry Division, a military unit of approximately fifteen thousand officers and men, was one of only two all-black divisions to fight in the United States Army in World War I and World War II. The 92nd Division was organized in October 1917 at … Read More92nd Infantry Division (1917–1919, 1942–1945)
Of the 167 enlisted black soldiers of the 25th Infantry discharged from the U.S. Army “without honor” by order of President Theodore Roosevelt after the shooting in Brownsville, Texas in 1906, Pvt. Dorsie Willis was the only to live long enough to see justice. According … Read MoreDorsie Willis (1886-1977)
On Christmas Day, 1837, during the Second Seminole War, the Africans and Native Americans comprising Florida’s Seminole Nation defeated a superior U.S. fighting force. In more than half a century of Florida invasions, this was the worst defeat the Seminole Nation inflicted on the American … Read MoreBattle of Lake Okeechobee (1837)
On June 2, 1863, Harriet Tubman led 150 black Union soldiers, who were part of the U.S. 2nd South Carolina Volunteers, in the Combahee River Raid and liberated more than 700 enslaved people. Tubman, often referred to as “the Moses of her people,” was a … Read MoreCombahee River Raid (June 2, 1863)
The 1st Louisiana Native Guard (USA) was one of the first all-black regiments to fight in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The Guard originated in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1862, during its occupation by Union forces. On September 27, 1862, Major General … Read MoreUSA / Corps d’Afrique 1st Louisiana Native Guard (1862-1863)
The 1st Louisiana Native Guard was the first official black regiment in the Confederate Army. The Guard was formed when Louisiana Governor Thomas Overton Moore accepted into the state militia a regiment of approximately 1,100 free African American men. When Governor Moore called for troops … Read MoreCSA 1st Louisiana Native Guard (1861-1862)
When the U.S. Army was reorganized on July 28, 1866 for peacetime service after the American Civil War, six regiments were set aside for black enlisted men. These included four infantry regiments, numbered 38th through 41st. The 24th Infantry was organized during a reduction in … Read More24th Infantry Regiment (1866-1951)
