Description: Portrait of Lieutenant Wilson Ballard in uniform. Wilson Ballard wrote an outline history of the Ninth Battalion, Ohio Volunteer Infantry in which he served with Charles Young. Charles Young was the first African American to reach the rank of Colonel in the U.S. Army and, at the time of his death in 1922, was the highest-ranking African American officer in the Army. He is known for having been forced into retirement due to health concerns before the start of World War I and later riding from Wilberforce, Ohio, to Washington, D.C. to prove his physical fitness for duty. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: NAM_MSS2_B06F21_J
Subjects: African American men; African American soldiers; Military officers
 

Description: Portrait of an African American man and woman in formal dress. This photograph was taken by traveling photographer Albert J. Ewing, ca. 1896-1912. Like most of Ewing's work, it was likely taken in southeastern Ohio or central West Virginia. Born in 1870 in Washington County, Ohio, near Marietta, Ewing most likely began his photography career in the 1890s. The 1910 US Census and a 1912-1913 directory list him as a photographer. A negative signed "Ewing Brothers" and a picture with his younger brother, Frank, indicate that Frank may have joined the business. After 1916, directories list Albert as a salesman. He died in 1934. The Ewing Collection consists of 5,055 glass plate negatives, each individually housed and numbered. Additionally, the collection includes approximately 450 modern contact prints made from the glass plate negatives. Subjects include infants and young children, elderly people, families, school and religious groups, animals and rural scenes. In 1982, the Ohio Historical Society received the collection, still housed in the original dry plate negative boxes purchased by Albert J. Ewing. A selection of the original glass plate negatives were exhibited for the first time in 2013 at the Ohio Historical Center. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06338
Subjects: Ewing, Albert J. (1870-1934); Couples; Portrait photography--United States--History; African American men; African American women
Places: Ohio; West Virginia
 

Description: Labeled photographs of Clarence Clinkscales from Orangeburg, South Carolina; Horace B. Rains from Columbus, Ohio; Herbert Hughes from Cincinnati, Ohio; Turner from Washington, D. C.; and Paris Vaughn Sterrett from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This is one of several pages taken from a scrapbook that belonged to Yvonne Walker-Taylor. Walker-Taylor was the daughter of Bishop Dougal Ormonde Beaconfield Walker, the 66th Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and president of Wilberforce University in the 1940s. Walker-Taylor later went on to follow in his footsteps, and became one of the first female African American college president in the United States when she was named president of Wilberforce in 1984. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: NAM_P2_B05F04_04_1
Subjects: Historical Black Colleges and Universities; Howard University; Wilberforce University; African American Educators; African American men; African American Ohioans; African American women
 

Description: Photograph of Charles Noel "Tonton" Young, the son of Colonel Charles Young, as an infant. Charles Young was the first African American to reach the rank of Colonel in the U.S. Army and, at the time of his death in 1922, was the highest-ranking African American officer in the Army. He is known for having been forced into retirement due to health concerns before the start of World War I and later riding from Wilberforce, Ohio, to Washington, D.C. to prove his physical fitness for duty. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: NAM_MSS3_B02F06_04
Subjects: African American men; African American children; Young, Charles, 1864-1922.
 

Description: Photograph of Colonel Charles Young in uniform. Charles Young was the first African American to reach the rank of Colonel in the U.S. Army and, at the time of his death in 1922, was the highest-ranking African American officer in the Army. He is known for having been forced into retirement due to health concerns before the start of World War I and later riding from Wilberforce, Ohio, to Washington, D.C. to prove his physical fitness for duty. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: NAM_MSS3_B02F50_01
Subjects: African American men; African American soldiers; Military officers; Young, Charles, 1864-1922.
 

Description: Photograph of Charles Harris Wesley, a prominent African American scholar, artist, minister and civil rights figure. He received degrees from Fisk University, Yale University and Harvard University and taught at Howard University in Washington. He was a minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and was awarded the Doctor of Divinity degree by Wilberforce University. He served as president of Wilberforce University in the 1940s, founded of Central State College in 1948 and served as the first director of the Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the 1970s. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: NAM_VFM34_1
Subjects: Activists; Civil Liberties; Civil rights; Civil rights movements--United States--History--20th century; African American men; African American authors; Wilberforce University; Howard University; Central State College
Places: Washington (District of Columbia); Philadelphia (Pennsylvania); Wilberforce (Ohio); Greene County (Ohio)
 

Description: Charles Harris Wesley shaking hands with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. shortly after receiving his honorary doctorate from Central State College in 1958. Charles Harris Wesley was a prominent African American scholar, artist, minister and civil rights figure. He received degrees from Fisk University, Yale University and Harvard University and taught at Howard University in Washington. He was a minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and was awarded the Doctor of Divinity degree by Wilberforce University. He served as president of Wilberforce University in the 1940s, founded of Central State College in 1948 and served as the first director of the Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the 1970s. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: NAM_VFM34_2_20.tif
Subjects: Activists; Civil Liberties; Civil rights; Civil rights movements--United States--History--20th century; African American men; African American authors; Wilberforce University; Howard University; Central State College
Places: Wilberforce (Ohio); Greene County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph of two unidentified children standing in a yard. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: NAM_MSS3_B02F58_1
Subjects: African American men; African American women; African American children
 

Description: Photograph of an unidentified man and two young boys standing in field with farming tools. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: NAM_MSS3_B02F58_2
Subjects: African American men; African American children
 

Description: Unidentified child riding a pony as another man holds the reins. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: NAM_MSS3_B02F62_2
Subjects: African American men; African American children
 

Description: Photograph of Marie Young, the daughter of Colonel Charles Young, riding a pony. Charles Young was the first African American to reach the rank of Colonel in the U.S. Army and, at the time of his death in 1922, was the highest-ranking African American officer in the Army. He is known for having been forced into retirement due to health concerns before the start of World War I and later riding from Wilberforce, Ohio, to Washington, D.C. to prove his physical fitness for duty. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: NAM_MSS3_B02F63_1
Subjects: African American men; African American women; African American children; Young, Charles, 1864-1922.
Places: Wilberforce (Ohio); Greene County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph of Charles Noel Young, son of Colonel Charles Young, standing with two other children near the Young family barn. Charles Young was the first African American to reach the rank of Colonel in the U.S. Army and, at the time of his death in 1922, was the highest-ranking African American officer in the Army. He is known for having been forced into retirement due to health concerns before the start of World War I and later riding from Wilberforce, Ohio, to Washington, D.C. to prove his physical fitness for duty. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: NAM_MSS3_B02F71_04
Subjects: African American men; African American children; Young, Charles, 1864-1922.
Places: Wilberforce (Ohio); Greene County (Ohio)