Description: Document of commemoration listing the principal events of the Spanish American War and the members of the 9th Battalion of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry of which Charles Young was the commanding officer. 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. ALTERNATE TEXT: A large off-white sheet of paper with colorful artwork and portraits of military members. The top left of the paper has a colorful artwork of a battle scene, with men in blue uniforms in a field of grass. Their guns aim at a white building in the distance and there are mountains behind the home. The grassy field includes a palm tree. The artwork at the top right of the paper depicts a naval scene with a white boat at the front. One of the boats in the distance is on fire. The water has a greenish blue hue. The top middle of the paper has artwork of a woman in a plain white dress, with her arms outstretched at her sides. She holds two wreaths and is wearing a small red cap. Behind her head is a shield with an American parotitic theme. In front of her legs is a grey bald eagle with its wings stretch out sideways. The eagle's mouth holds a blue sash with "E Pluribus Unum" written on it. The eagle stands on two American flags crossed over each other. There is a green branch with leaves in the eagle's left talon. There are weapons and a shield under the eagle. Behind the woman and the eagle are soldiers in blue uniforms. Some soldiers have backpacks, guns, and injured arms in slings. The scene is surrounded by a stone arch behind the woman's head, and stone columns leading towards the bottom of the page. The left and right edges of the paper have military officer's busts surrounded by green wreaths, with seven men on either side of the vertical stone columns. The middle of the paper has two officers surrounded by green wreaths. They are in front of two white sheets with one golden tassel hanging on each sheet. the sheets hang down and end at the middle of the stone columns. Green branches are coming out of the white sheets and wrap around the stone columns twice. The two branches have two different types of leaves, with the left being a rounded oak leaf complete with sparse acorns, and the right being a more pointed leaf with red berries. The branches intertwine with themselves at the middle of the stone columns. Towards the bottom middle of the page are two thin red, white, and blue poles that lead to the bottom of the page. Two American flags drape over the bottom of the stone columns. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: NAM_OVS_32
Subjects: Spanish American War; African American soldiers; African American men; Military officers; Young, Charles, 1864-1922.
Places: National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center