CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

Exhibit features local veterans

Powhatan Today - 3/21/2018

For a nerd, happenstance can be truly entertaining.

One such moment occurred recently at the Library of Virginia and literally made this writer more excited than I can possibly explain. I am going to give a little background but going into this story you need to remember two things: the date of my visit was Saturday, March 10, and I am both the news editor of the Powhatan Today weekly newspaper and the Cumberland Today monthly newspaper.

I visited the library to be one of the judges of the 44th annual Richmond Times-Dispatch Regional Spelling Bee. Arriving a little early, I had time to look around before the spelling bee started and ended up wandering into the True Sons of Freedom photographic exhibit that is on display until Nov. 9.

The exhibit explores the stories of 24 of Virginia'sAfrican-American soldiers who served during World War I using their military and personal photos as well as their military service records and some biographical information.

According to the exhibit description, "more than just mementos for families and sweethearts, these portraits challenge the crude and demoralizing cultural products of an era that often reduced African Americans to stereotypes and denied them full participation as citizens of the United States. Reflecting the pride and determination of African American World War I servicemen, the images were submitted with the soldiers' responses to military service questionnaires created by the Virginia War History Commission as part of an effort to capture the scope of Virginians' participation in the Great War. The original photographs, reproduced in the gallery at nearly life-size dimensions, place visitors at eye level in front of the soldiers. The monumental scale allows viewers the opportunity to examine rich details not seen in the original photo postcards."

I walked into the long rectangular room that makes up the gallery space not really knowing what to expect. The very first photograph on the far left was of Collie Woodson, who was born on March 10, 1888, in Cumberland County. He was working as a farmer when he enlisted in the Army as an infantry private on Sept. 25, 1918. He served stateside in the Army, possibly because he was stricken with pneumonia, and was discharged on July 28, 1919. A farmer and laborer after the war, "he later reported that his camp experiences made him a better person and that he felt good about his experiences once he recovered from pneumonia," according to the placard next to his photo.

Mindful that the spelling bee would start soon, I quickly scanned the other photos and placards in the exhibit looking for more local connections.

The very last photo I saw before exiting the room was that of Louis Giles, who was born on March 10, 1894, in Powhatan County. He was working as a wagon driver for a grocer and butcher when he was inducted into the army as a private on April 26, 1918. He also did not travel overseas but was promoted to corporal during his service before he was discharged on July 24, 1919. "He later reported that the training and years of service had helped him mentally and physically," according to his placard.

I don't generally go looking for coincidences, but they can be entertaining when you come across them. In this case, I was ecstatic over the coincidence of coming across these two men from counties I cover who were born on the same date, although years apart, that also happened to be the date I was looking at their photos for the first time.

While the exhibit was already noteworthy, my excitement over those coincidences made me pay closer attention to the rest of the exhibit than I probably would have.

When I came back after the bee to look at the exhibit more closely, I discovered there was information on Russell Norman Bolling, who was born on June 20, 1891, in Cumberland County. He was a farmer and a student before entering the service in August 1918. He arrived in France shortly before the armistice and served in veterinary units throughout France. He returned home in June 1919 and resumed his studies at Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute (now Virginia State University).

In addition to the many brave men to read about, there were other fun trivia things I noticed, such as four of the men highlighted in the room were born on March 10 and a man named Thomas Harrison Lee sailed for Europe aboard the Powhatan, but that was just me having more nerd moments.

The world has lost all of the brave men who fought in World War I, and so many of their stories have never been told and will never be told. I applaud the Library of Virginia for giving people the opportunity to not only learn a little about some of the African American men from Powhatan and Cumberland but also ones from all over the state who served.

If you get a chance to go, I do recommend the exhibit, which is free and makes for an interesting addition to a visit to the Library of Virginia, which is fascinating in itself.

But in doing a little research for this column, I discovered that you can still see and learn a little about these men even if you can't make it to the library. Their photos have been digitized and published with a little bit of the information about them online at www.virginiamemory.com/truesons. It's not as detailed as the exhibit placards, but it's something.

Through that website, I discovered other local connections, including John Allen, Tommie W. Booker (or possibly Brooks), Lloyd Davenport, Elisha Lee Miller, and Charles "Charlie" Edgo Wilson, all of Cumberland, and Sam William Henry Lee Crump of Cartersville. Some of them have only limited information, and the public is asked to share more information with the library if they know it.

Coincidence or not, stumbling across the True Sons of Freedom exhibit and seeing those local connections was a fascinating moment for this writer and hopefully will also connect with some of our readers in their own ways.

Laura McFarland may be reached at Lmcfarland@powhatantoday.com.