Black Stories

Curated by Museum of History and Holocaust Education

Black military service has both mirrored and informed the long Black freedom struggle in the United States. These intergenerational stories span from the Revolutionary War through the War in Iraq. Today, Black soldiers make up about 22 percent of an integrated military.

Christian A. Fleetwood

Sergeant Major Christian A. Fleetwood of the U.S. Colored Infantry Fourth Regiment, Company G. of the Union Army was one of 25 Black Union soldiers to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery in action. Sergeant Major Fleetwood was…

Eugene Bullard

Eugene Bullard was born in Columbus, Georgia, on October 9, 1895. His parents, William and Josephine, had formerly been enslaved. At the age of 11, he ran away from home, seeking a better life. This led him to stow away on the Marta Russ, a ship…

Medgar Evers

Born into a working-class Black family in Decatur, Mississippi, Medgar Evers attended segregated schools and witnessed a lynching the in the community where he grew up. Evers was only fifteen when the United States entered World War II, but he…

Theodore Britton

Born in North Augusta, south Carolina, in 1925, Theodore Roosevelt Britton, Jr. moved to New York City when he was ten years old. He had almost completed high school when he was drafted into the U.S. military during World War II. He became one of the…

Colin Powell

According to The New York Times, Colin Powell was "emblematic of the ability of minorities to use the military as a ladder of opportunity."Born to Jamaican parent in Harlem, New York City, in 1937, Powell grew up in the South Bronx, an…