Earlier today I said I wouldn’t play in this edition of the Carnival of Genealogy, because I hadn’t had enough time to come up with something given all the effort we put into the African-American Military History series just concluded. Well, I changed my mind, in part due to Jasia‘s enthusiasm and determination not to miss out on the Carnival. Like her, I also felt challenged in this category.

The topic for the next Carnival of Genealogy will be: Shelter from the storm, stories of the home and hearth. Is there a haunted house in your family? Did one of your ancestors live on a boat? Did you research your grandparents’ home and find that someone famous once lived there? Did your family share a hunting cabin or cottage at the lake? What have you learned about Aunt Millie’s house from census records? Was a family member’s home destroyed by fire, flood, tornado, or a hurricane? It’s time to tell all about your family’s abode!

I lived the greatest portion of my childhood in what I have previously described as “the ultimate gated community,” an obscure, semi-secret atomic weapons research installation nestled against the Sandia Mountains on the southeast edge of Albuquerque, New Mexico. There we lived in “Capehart housing,” cookie-cutter houses built in the 1950′s on military bases across the country. [The name is that of Homer Capehart, a key figure in building the jukebox industry, who later served 18 years in the U.S. Senate representing Indiana. One of his important legislative accomplishments was to alleviate the critical shortage of family housing on military bases.] Capehart housing, while adequate, was nothing to write home [or a blog post] about. It’s all been torn down and replaced now. Patrolled by military police, the community was quiet and safe. We walked to school, to the theater, to the library, or rode our bikes to our friends’ house, even at night, without trepidation. There were only two significant crimes committed there while we lived there: our cat was stolen (but later recovered), and one afternoon, Mrs. Baker killed her husband (a federal grand jury declined to indict her–but that’s a whole ‘nother story).

Several years before we went to New Mexico, we lived at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri–my father’s first Army assignment after college. Recognizing the afore-mentioned critical shortage of family housing in the post-war era, the Army had purchased a number of double-wide trailers to be used at Fort Leonard Wood. The trailers were given to senior NCOs and their families. The wooden boxes that the trailers came in–yes, the wooden shipping crates– were made into little houses for junior officers (like my 2nd Lt father) and their families!

When I was born, my parents were living in an apartment above a Lincoln University student hangout known as the Blue Tiger at 109-1/2 East Atchison Street in Jefferson City, Missouri. It’s a parking lot today.

I considered writing about the houses that my grandmother and aunts lived in in the 2400 block of Chestnut in Kansas City, Missouri. But frankly, I don’t remember that much about them.

Then I thought about the house that my great-grandfather Richard William Gines occupied in Shreveport, Louisiana. But I’ve never been there, although I do know the address on Ashton Street. Richard and Sylvia Gines lived here from at least the 1880′s. In the Google Map image
here, Ashton is the horizontal street, and I believe that 1540 was or is the house on the left.

Having never been there, though, I cannot tell its tales.

So I decided to reprise “A House in Rockport,” which appeared in this space on Tuesday, September 12, 2006. The house depicted belong to my great-grandmother, Hattie Bryant. In the 1920′s and 1930′s, she lived there with several of her children, including my grandmother, Jessie Bowie. I didn’t mention in the September post that my father was born in this house.The house may have been built in the 1880′s. It had no running water, no indoor toilet, and no street address. Of course, Rockport was such a small town that street address weren’t particularly necessary. Once, my father showed me a telegram received by my grandmother at that house in the 1940s. I remarked that it had no street address. Dad said, “Look again.” Then he pointed out the “street address.” The entire address read, “Mrs. Jessie Givan [one of her married names], Colored.” That is the street address, Dad said.

A House in Rockport

Everybody knew where the colored people lived and all the colored people knew where each of them lived, he observed.

In 1962, Nana (my grandmother Jessie Bowie) took me and my sister Cheryl on a trip to Texas. For us, Rockport was a mythic place we had heard about from our father. Frankly, it was a place about which he had mixed feelings. We saw and in fact stayed in that house. Nana owned it, but it was cared for by her aunt Ida Bryant, wife of her late uncle Sam Bryant. It looked much like it looks in this photograph. What an experience for a couple of kids from “the ultimate gated community.”

My father sold the house in the late 1980s. By then, there was even a traffic light in Rockport.

. . . .so we are reminded by the National Women’s History Project. While I don’t have current plans for a theme series like we did for Black History Month, there will be some women’s history posts here and there through the coming month. Speaking of which, as we ended Black History Month with a profile of Brig. Gen. Mary J. Kight, we mentioned in passing the first woman to become a general in any service.

Maj. Gen. Jeanne M. Holm was born to Scandinavian immigrants in Portland, Oregon, in 1921 and enlisted in what was then known as the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps as a truck driver. Read the rest of her remarkable biography here.

[The "All History is Personal" anecdote: In 1974, when I was a Secondclassman (junior) at the U.S. Air Force Academy, I was writing a paper on the history of women in the military. In the course of that project, I ran into Maj. Gen. Holm. As in "ran into" her. I was in the Academy Library, in a typical hurry, and I scooted quickly through the stacks, not paying attention as I whipped around a corner. And I ran into Maj. Gen. Holm, nearly knocking her down! Why she was there, I do not know. But you cannot imagine the mortification a cadet experiences in that situation . . . . Befitting her status, Gen. Holm was quite gracious and forgiving of the shocked and stammering 20 year old trying to make his apologies.]

Did your grandmother sound like “Grannie” from “The Beverly Hillbillies“? Or did your Grandpa talk like Walter Brennan in “The Real McCoys”? No? Well, consider this from Language Log, one of my favorite non-genealogy blogs:

When’s the Last Time You Heard an Old Person Say “Dadburn It”?

An old Bugs Bunny cartoon of 1944, THE OLD GREY HARE, depicts Bugs and Elmer Fudd as old men going through their usual antics with canes, gray beards, spectacles and the shakes. But these aren’t the only traits indicating their having reached their twilight years. Bugs, as an oldster, talks in a hillbilly accent.

But Bugs Bunny as a young “man” spoke in a Brooklyn/Bronx patois. Why would he have shifted into an alien moonshine dialect as he got older?

This was no random occurrence chez the Looney Tunes crew. One sees this kind of thing again and again in pop culture of that era. Old people are very often depicted as talking like the Beverly Hillbillies even when the people around them use mainstream standard American.

In a 1932 musical film STRIKE ME PINK with Eddie Cantor and Ethel Merman, in one song near the end they are transformed into oldster versions of themselves (never mind why), and suddenly they are cackling along in “Consarn it!” accents that neither of the urban characters they were playing in the film used.

In the old radio hit FIBBER MCGEE AND MOLLY, a cherished character in the late thirties and early forties was “The Old Timer,” who would always pop by telling tall tales ushered in by his catchphrase “That ain’t the way I heerd it!” The Old Timer sounded like an old-time gold prospector — but everyone else on the show, which took place in generic Wistful Vista, Illinois, spoke generic Midwestern Whatever.

[break]

This kind of thing was so common in American pop culture before 1950 that I would venture that I got a sense of the contours of hillbilly dialect (in caricatured form, to be sure) from these depictions of old people in the cartoons and old movies that were still staples on UHF as a grew up. I recall an afternoon in high school in 1980 when, joking with some friends, I passingly slid into such an accent depicting a person in their old age — you know, “Sonny” and such. One guy joshingly objected “How come when he got old he would start talking in a Southern accent?” It struck me. He was right — what kind of sense did this make?

My favorite linguist, John McWhorter, goes on in this piece to offer a demographic explanation for this strange pop culture phenomenon. Read the rest from a May 2004 post on Language Log here.

Thanks to all who e-mailed or commented on our African-American Military History series. It was fun to research and enjoyable to write. Unfortunately, it took up so much time and energy that I didn’t get much else done. So I won’t be in the upcoming Carnival of Genealogy. But I encourage you all to check it out. Our host again will be Jasia. Here’s how the next Carnival is described:

The topic for the next Carnival of Genealogy will be: Shelter from the storm, stories of the home and hearth. Is there a haunted house in your family? Did one of your ancestors live on a boat? Did you research your grandparents’ home and find that someone famous once lived there? Did your family share a hunting cabin or cottage at the lake? What have you learned about Aunt Millie’s house from census records? Was a family member’s home destroyed by fire, flood, tornado, or a hurricane? It’s time to tell all about your family’s abode!

This should be a lot of fun!

California’s Own “First”

Someone told me awhile ago that “History is made by ordinary people doing extraordinary things every day.” I don’t know that the person I heard t from was the originator of this thought, but it struck me as true. I thought about that as I pondered this chapter in our African-American Military History series.

The late Major and Socorro Green lived in my adopted hometown of Monterey, California. [I went to high school there]. Their daughter, Mary, had just completed college and gotten married, when their new son-in-law decided to join the Air Force. And Mary thought, I could do that, too. So on Valentine’s Day, i1974, the former Mary Josephine Green became 2nd Lt. Mary J. Kight, USAF.

Lt. Kight began her military career in billets typical for women officers at that time. She was a personnel officer at Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane, Washington. In those days, there was a high degree of segregation between male and female military members, at least officially. The number of positions for female officers was greatly restricted. And all the women who were not nurses or other medical personnel, were inducted into a semi-autonomous corps called “Women in the Air Force,” or “WAF” for short.

Promotion opportunities for women were restricted by law. For most of the time from the creation of the WAF in 1947 until 1971, there was just one authorized colonel’s position in the WAF. There were no women generals until 1971, just a few years before Mary Kight was commissioned.

One of Lt. Kight’s jobs at Fairchild AFB was commander of the WAF squadron. She spent nearly five years at Fairchild, leaving there for assignment to Headquarters Strategic Air Command (HQ SAC) at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, Nebraska. By this time, the WAF had been abolished and women fully integrated into the Air Force, at least officially. The statutory limits on promotions had been abolished, a woman (Jeanne Holm) had been promoted to Major General, and women had been admitted to the United States Air Force Academy. As a practical matter, however, women were still largely concentrated in personnel and administrative positions.

HQ SAC was a place of almost legendary proportions–the command and control center of America’s nuclear-armed bombers and missiles, the most lethal military force ever assembled. It was definitely a male-oriented culture, and not any or every man could succeed in the SAC culture. But Kight did well. She recently told Sacramento Magazine that she did not feel intimidated. After a year at HQ SAC, Kight left active duty to join the Nebraska Air National Guard. Again, she found herself in “admin” jobs.

But in the mid-1980′s, no longer married, Capt Kight transferred to the California Air National Guard, being stationed with the 144th Fighter Wing at Fresno. The Air Force had continued to evolve with respect to women and now Kight found herself on the flightline as an aircraft maintenance officer. For ten years, Kight helped keep the 144th’s F-4D’s and later, air defense F-16C’s mission-capable.

Her hard work and affable style paid off with a promotion to lieutenant colonel and assignment as the commander of the 144th Aircraft Gneration Squadron. In the meantime, Kight had completed Air Command and Staff College.

In 1998, Lt. Col. Kight was selected to attend Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama–a rare honor for an Air Guard officer, and usually a portent of things to come.

In 2001, Kight was promoted to full colonel and was given command of the Mission Support Squadron. Then, in 2004, Mary Kight was summoned to Air Guard headquarters in Sacramento to serve as Assistant Adjutant General. No woman had ever served in that position in the 57 year history of the California Air National Guard. Lightning struck twice more in 2006 when Kight was promoted to brigadier general and assigned as Assistant Adjutant General for the entire California National Guard–both Army and Air–the number 2 officer in the California National Guard.

Mary J. Kight is the first woman line officer and first African-American to be promoted to brigadier general in the California Air National Guard.

As Assistant Adjutant General, she helps oversee the 18,000 soldiers and 5,000 airmen who make up the California National Guard. Many of these soldiers and airmen have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan or the Gulf Coast for hurricane relief. California has the most tasked National Guard organization in the country.

I served 13 of my 34 years of military service in the California Air National Guard and had the pleasure of working from time to time with Mary Kight. She’s the quality officer and person one would expect of an Air Force brigadier general. She’s one of the current heirs to the legacy of Charles Young and Benjamin O. Davis, Sr.

And she’s making history every day doing her “ordinary” tasks!

Brig. Gen. Mary J. Kight, CA ANG
Assistant Adjutant General
Joint Forces Headquarters-California
Sacramento, California

Left: Brig. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., U.S. Army (U.S. Army photo)

Right: Gen. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., U.S. Air Force (U.S. Air Force photo)

There were two great American military men who bore the name Benjamin O. Davis. They were father and son. The younger Davis is well-recalled as “the leader of the Tuskegee Airmen.” That story, briefly, is that after public controversy and mush internal debate, the government decided to begin training African-Americans to be combat pilots. The essential part of this training would take place at Moton Field, near Tuskegee, Alabama. Tuskegee was the home of Tuskegee Institute , founded by Booker T. Washington for the education of blacks. Nearly all of the recruits came with no military background. The Army desired to have an experienced officer, preferably a West Point graduate, command the first black fliers to bring military credibility to the effort. The natural selection was then-Major Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. He had gone to West Point with the express desire to fly with the Air Corps. Instead, upon graduation, he was sent to Fort Benning, Georgia, where he trained for the infantry. After that, he was sent to Tuskegee to teach in the ROTC program. So in 1941, Davis, Jr. finally saw his dream to fly come true. By 1942, he had earned his wings and was assigned as the commander of the 99th Pursuit Squadron, the first black flying unit. The story of the great combat success of the Tuskegee Airmen is told elsewhere in detail; suffice it to say here that the blacks trained at Tuskegee performed so far beyond expectations and wrote themselves into world aviation history.

Davis, Jr. went on to further distinction in the United States Air Force, becoming that service’s first black general in 1954. He retired in 1970, wearing the three stars of a lieutenant general. In 1998, President Clinton nominated him for a fourth star, and upon Senate confirmation, he was promoted to full general, the Air Force’s highest grade. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., died in Washington, D.C. (where he had been born) on July 4, 2002, at the age of 89.

If it seems we’ve given short shrift to Gen. Davis, Jr., no disrespect is meant. But we want to tell the story of Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., a story that has faded in our common history over time and, ironically, in the bright light of his son’s accomplishments.

Benjamin Oliver Davis, Sr., was born in Washington, D.C. His official Army records show his birth date as 1 July 1877, but there is substantial evidence that he was actually born in May, 1880. [Marvin Fletcher, author of the biography, America’s First Black General, obtained birth records that seem to show the 1880 date. The 1880 census of the District of Columbia shows one black Benjamin Davis, born to Lewis and Henrietta Davis in May, 1880.) The theory is that Davis lied about his age to get into the Army during the Spanish-American War. He served from July 1898 until March 1899. In June, 1899, he enlisted in the 9th U.S. Cavalry.

An officer in the 9th Cavalry was then-Lt. Charles Denton Young, who apparently gave advice and guidance to Davis. In 1901, then-Sgt. Maj. Davis was commissioned a second lieutenant of cavalry.

Davis had a career remarkably similar to that of Young’s. He went to the Philippines, to Wilberforce University, and to the Mexican border campaign. He also followed Young as military attache to Liberia. After Young, he became the second black officer to achieve the rank of Colonel in the U.S. Army.

During the First World War, Davis was assigned to the Philippines again, far from the real action. Between the wars, Davis was at Tuskegee and Wilberforce several times and commanded a New York National Guard regiment. The repetitiveness of these assignments may have due to the fact the Army had no other places assign high-ranking black officers, since they did not want them commanding mainstream units.

But in 1940, Davis received the recognition that had eluded his mentor, Young. He was promoted to brigadier general, becoming the first black general officer in the American armed forces. There is no doubt that Davis deserved the promotion and was capable of the tasks that went with it–just as Young had deserved it and was certainly capable. Some, however, have said that Davis was promoted because Franklin D. Roosevelt was trying to shore up his support in the black community in advance of the 1940 election. And it is certainly true that the black community lobbied hard for Davis to be promoted, having been very disappointed at the treatment afforded Col. Young.

After his promotion, Brig. Gen. Davis went to Fort Riley, Kansas, as a brigade commander in the 2nd Cavalry Division. He was retired as a brigadier general while in that position on July 31, 1941. On August 1, 1941, he was recalled to active duty in the rank of brigadier general. (This was not uncommon for various reasons related to Army personnel management at that time).

Davis went to Europe as “Special Advisor on Negro Problems” in 1942. The war was the first war in which blacks were fielded in such absolute numbers. And there was pressure at home to integrate military units. Davis returned to Washington as Assistant to the Inspector General of the Army. In 1944, he was sent to Europe again as a staff officer stationed in Paris. He returned to the War Department in Washington in 1945.

Brig. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., retired from the Army with 50 years of service on July 14, 1948. Less than two weeks later, on July 26, 1948, President Harry S Truman issued Executive Order 9981, which stated:

It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin.

Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., had made that order possible and thus gave meaning to the legacy of Colonel Charles Young. Davis died on November 26, 1970, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Next: Making History Every Day: Brig. Gen. M.J. Kight

Charles Young as a captain
(Courtesy National Park Service)

[FINAL UPDATE 5:01 PM PST 24 FEB]
Recently, while checking my blog’s statistics, I noticed that someone had searched on Google for “first black lt col in 1916.” This piqued my interest, because I thought 1916 was a bit early for a black man to be promoted to lieutenant colonel. Well, I learned something I didn’t know.

Charles Denton Young (12 March 1864-8 January 1922) was born in Mason County, Kentucky, the son of former slaves. His father, Gabriel, a farmer, joined Company F, 5th Regiment, United States Colored Heavy Artillery, at Ripley, Ohio, about a year after Charles was born. Gabriel served a year in the Army and was mustered out in February, 1866, at Vicksburg, Mississippi.

With the family reunited in Ohio, Charles (who, according to census records, appears to have been an only child), attended the white high school in Ripley, graduating with honors at age 16. A year later, he took the competitive examination for entrance into the United States Military Academy at West Point. He received the second highest score and was admitted in 1884. Not much is known about his years at West Point, but in 1889, he became the third black graduate of America’s first military academy. (Henry O. Flipper, Class of 1877, was the first; John Hanks Alexander, Class of 1887, though a native of Arkansas, appointed from Ohio like Young, was the second). He was commissioned a second lieutenant of cavalry and assigned to the 10th Cavalry Regiment, one of the celebrated “Buffalo Soldier” units, in Nebraska. He also served in the 9th Cavalry Regiment in Utah. During the Spanish-American War, Young was promoted to Major and commanded a squadron of the 10th Cavalry in Cuba.

In 1903, Young was posted to California where he became acting superintendent of Sequoia National Park. Something that is not widely known is that in the years before the creation of the National Park Service in 1916, Army troops, mostly black, served as America’s park rangers. According to the National Park Service, Young was the first black superintendent of a national park and:

Young’s greatest impact on the park was road construction that helped to improve the underdeveloped park. Due to his work ethic and perseverance, Young and his troops accomplished more that summer than the three military officers who had been assigned the previous three years.

The roads had been so bad that it took Young and his men sixteen days to make it from San Francisco to the interior of the park. Young’s accomplishments opened the wonders of the giant sequoia trees to the public for the first time.

The National Park Service records further state:

The energy and dignity he brought to his national park assignment left a strong imprint. His roads, much improved in later times, are still in use today, having served millions of park visitors for more than eighty years. And the example he set – a determined black man overcoming the prejudices of society – remains an inspiration to anyone who faces life’s challenges head-on.

Young was selected as the first black officer to serve as a military attache (a key intelligence post) in Haiti. His work there attracted the attention of another Spanish-American War veteran, one Theodore Roosevelt. Young later was the Professor of Military Science and Tactics (head of ROTC) at Wilberforce University in Ohio. Young served in the Philippines and in 1912, was selected for his second tour as a military attache, this time in Liberia.

During General Pershing’s 1916 pursuit of Mexican bandits along the border, Young commanded a cavalry squadron. As a result of his skillful leadership. Young was promoted to lieutenant colonel and later full colonel. He was given command of Fort Huachuca, Arizona, as probably the first African-American to command a post with both white and black soldiers.

As the United States approached its entry into World War I, Charles Young was the highest ranking black officer in the U.S. Army. No black officer had ever been assigned to a combat command at such a high rank. And for many years, none would be. In June, 1917, Young was retired over his protests. The Army said his high blood pressure made him unfit for duty. Many observers, however, saw racism behind the decision.

In 1918, Young rode a horse from Ohio to Washington, D.C., to personally petition the Secretary of War for reinstatement. The Army apparently was impressed because Young was reinstated.
But by that time, the war was nearly over. Young was again assigned as the U.S. military attache in Monrovia, Liberia.

While on a mission to Lagos, Nigeria, Young contracted his final illness. He died on January 8, 1922. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington.

Col. Charles Young was not only a great military leader, but an accomplished linguist as well. He spoke Greek, French, Spanish, and German. He played the violin and guitar, and wrote two plays. Young was married to Ada Barr and they had two children, Charles Noel Young and Marie Young.

After Young’s passing, W.E.B. DuBois wrote of him:

The life of Charles Young was a triumph of tragedy. No one ever knew the truth about the Hell he went through at West Point. He seldom even mentioned it. The pain was too great. Few knew what faced him always in his army life. It was not enough for him to do well-he must always do better; and so much and so conspicuously better, as to disarm the scoundrels that ever trailed him. He lived in the army surrounded by insult and intrigue and yet he set his teeth and kept his soul serene and triumphed.

Young is not as well known to history as other pioneering black military officers. In my 34 years of military service, I heard no mention of him from anyone, black or otherwise. One reference I consulted for this piece described him as “obscure.” In his adopted home state of Ohio, however, his accomplishments are well known. And now, thanks to an anonymous “Googler” that I stumbled across, you and I know them, too.

Epilogue: While serving with the 9th U.S. Cavalry in Utah, then-Lt. Young met an enlisted man who took to heart Young’s guidance and encouragement. That man’s name was Benjamin O. Davis.

Next: Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., America’s First Black General

Special thanks to:

Buffalosoldier.net

National Park Service

The Ohio Historical Society

Read more about Colonel Charles Young:

Black Cadet in a White Bastion: Charles Young at West Point
by Brian G. Shellum
(University of Nebraska Press, 2006)

For Race and Country: The Life and Career of Colonel Charles Young
by David P. Kilroy
(Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003)

Abraham Lincoln took two provocative steps in 1863: first, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves in parts of the Confederacy not yet under Federal control; then, he decided to actively recruit blacks into the Union Army.

The War Department formed the Bureau of Colored Troops and mustered into Federal service individual black men as well as black units formed in the States. Eventually, about 178,000 black Americans served in the cavalry, infantry, and artillery regiments of the United States Colored Troops (USCT). The regiments were commanded by white officers and for a while, black soldiers were paid less than their white counterparts.

Missouri was the home base of seven USCT regiments. The 1st Missouri Colored Infantry Regiment was organized at Schofield Barracks near St Louis in May 1863. The 2nd Missouri Colored Infantry Regiment were organized at Benton Barracks near St Louis in 1864. These units came into federal service as the 62nd Regiment and the 65th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry. The 62nd was deployed to Louisiana in March, 1864, then to Texas in September of that year. In May, 1865, the regiment, then part of a force under the command of Col. Theodore H. Barrett, participated in the last battle of the Civil War at Palmito Ranch, Texas. In the meantime, the 65th U.S. Colored Infantry, also originally a Missouri unit, remained in Louisiana for most of its wartime service.

While the 62nd was in Louisiana, the regimental commander, Lt. Col. David Branson, issued an order that required all non-commissioned officers to learn to read or be replaced by soldiers from the ranks who could read. This was an exceptional order considering that in most places it was against the law to teach blacks to read. According to one account, Branson later demoted five NCOs who had not learned to read and replaced them with lower ranking soldiers who had learned to read.

Following the end of hostilities, the 62nd was stationed at Fort McIntosh, Texas, while the 65th was in Louisiana. Perhaps emboldened by their new found literacy, the men of the 62nd began discussing the creation of a school of higher learning for the recently freed slaves and their descendants. They called the school “Lincoln Institute.” The soldiers collected a total of $5,000.00 from their pay to start the school. The soldiers of the 65th desired to participate and collected $1400.00 for the cause. The soldiers made the following stipulations:

1. The institution shall be designed for the special benefit of the freed Negroes;
2. It shall be located in the state of Missouri;
3. Its fundamental idea shall be to combine study and labor.

On September 17, 1866, the soldiers’ dream came true when Lincoln Institute opened its doors to its first class in an old building in Jefferson City, Missouri’s capital. Three years late, it moved to its present site in Jefferson City, and in 1921, the name was changed to Lincoln University.

A primary mission of Lincoln University was teacher training. In 1949, Lillian Gines of Kansas City entered Lincoln to pursue a degree in elementary education. In 1951, Harold Manson of Houston, Texas, arrived to study journalism–Lincoln had an outstanding School of Journalism that had been established in 1942. They met, dated, and after Lillian graduated in 1953, married. They became my parents a year later.

In 1890, Lincoln had become a land grant university. That meant it had to offer “military tactics” or ROTC. Lincoln’s Blue Tiger ROTC battalion has honored its roots by producing a number of distinguished African-American officers. That number includes my dad, who was inducted as an original member of the Lincoln University ROTC Hall of Fame upon his retirement from the Army as a lieutenant colonel in 1975. He was a direct beneficiary of the foresight of the soldiers of the 62nd and 65th Regiments, United States Colored Infantry. And my brothers and I were indirect beneficiaries. Had the black soldiers of the USCT not acquitted themselves well in battle and had the soldiers of the 62nd and 65th Regiments not had a dream of educating freed Negroes, we would not have had the careers we had. So we honor them always. You see, all history is personal . . . .

Heirs to the legacy of the 62nd and 65th U.S. Colored Infantry. (One of only two photographs of us together in uniform).
Center: LTC Harold V. Manson, US Army (ret); Left to right: 2d Lt (later, MAJ-ret) David Q. Manson, US Army; Capt (later, Col-ret) Harold Craig Manson, US Air Force; Capt (later, MAJ-ret) Terry Manson.
Photo June 1981

Ancestry.com has recently added military service records for the U.S. Colored Troops. These are among the best military records available on Ancestry. The records include enlistment papers, mustering-out papers, pension documents in some cases, and much more.

Here are some links for more information on the U.S. Colored Troops:

The Civil War Archive

United States Colored Troops in the Civil War

United States Colored Troops Institute for Local and Family History

Lincoln University, Jefferson City, Missouri

62nd & 65th Regiments, USCI (has a list of members)

The National Archives

Missouri State Archives

“All history is personal,” I’ve told my students for a long time. My personal history is inextricably tied to the events in the military history of the United States. Had not been for the legacy of the soldiers of the 62nd and 65th Regiments, United States Colored Infantry, I would not be here at all (story coming). Much later, the Cold War became the subtext of my generation, and oddly, the pathway from poverty to prosperity for my family specifically, as well as for hundreds of thosuands (if not millions) of black families in America. Indeed, every bit of formal education I received after high school–college, postgraduate studies, and law school–was paid for out of the U.S. defense budget.

The truth is, however, that my success was paid for by the African-Americans who, from the time of the Revolution, continually had to prove their worth to the defense of this nation. So in this last week of Black History Month, GeneaBlogie will present stories of African-American military history. Most will be new even to those know something of black history.

I also tell my students, “Your history is my history; mine is yours.” That’s true because I’m sitting here beside you–how we each got here is relevant. Our presentation of these stories is part of our commitment to “Learn, Share, Enjoy & Appreciate.”

NEXT: The 62nd & 65th Regiments, United States Colored Infantry–They Had a Dream

• Miriam Midkiff’s Ancestories, Ancestories1 and Ancestories2. This complex of sites consists of Miriam’s stories of her (and her husband’s and sister-in-law’s) ancestors, her research blog, and her life story for her descendants. She writes well and generously. And in Ancestories2, her story for her descendants, she includes “prompts” to help her readers create their own stories. Miriam writes from eastern Washington state, but frequently focuses on Michigan.

• Rootdig by Michael John Neill. One of the most interesting places to visit every day! Informative and entertaining, this author and lecturer packs his site with tips and genealogy of the well-known (check out how the British authorities classified Queen Victoria in the 1851 census!

• Tim Agazio’s Genealogy Reviews Online. Tim says he “provides reviews of online resources, books, and software devoted to genealogy research.” Tim’s site has clean lines and is an easy read. He’s insightful and has a sense of humor. Tim is based in Colorado.

• Family Matters by Denise Olson. Denise calls her blog “Tech Support for the Family Historian.” And that it is! Check out some of these recent posts: Diigo groups, “Is your router secure?”, and “The 20 Minute Guide to Web Security.”

• Kinexxions by Becky Wiseman. A native Hoosier and Navy veteran, Becky has quickly become a favorite within the genea-blogging community. She’s working with FamilySearch on indexing Indiana marriages.

• Apple’s Tree. A school bus driver using the nom de blog “Apple,” this writer is based in the town of Snowville, New York (which sounds like a real challenge for a school bus driver!)

• Amy Crooks’ Untangled Family Roots. Amy is from Post Falls, Idaho, and has a separate site of the same name where she provides products and services to help preserve family heritage. She’s started a carnival on her blog called “Who is that?

• Dana Huff’s Our Family History. An interesting, well-written site; enjoyable and informative.

• Taneya’s Genealogy Blog. A librarian in Nashville, Taneya says she loves computers and the Internet–her genealogy blog, one of several she keeps, certainly shows it.