MONROE, La. – For more than two centuries, Black soldiers have fought and died in battle to preserve the freedoms treasured by so many in the United States — even when, by the mere color of their skin, they were denied those freedoms themselves.
A legislative proposal to build a new monument in Louisiana honoring the often overlooked contributions of those Black service members passed its first hurdle in a Senate committee on Wednesday.
The structure would be built with private funds on the grounds surrounding the Old Arsenal Museum, known as the Louisiana Veterans Memorial Park, and join other monuments honoring Gold Star Families and National Guardsmen.
“By erecting a monument specifically to honor African American veterans in Louisiana, the state will be memorializing and celebrating a group of veterans who far too often face discrimination and persecution when they return home from serving their nation,” said Sen. Gerald Boudreaux, a Lafayette Democrat sponsoring the measure.
Though Black soldiers have fought in battles as far back as the Revolutionary War, they first garnered widespread recognition for their bravery and sacrifices after the Civil War Siege of Port Hudson, just miles north of Baton Rouge, said Aaron Sheehan-Dean, a history professor at LSU.
Among the Union troops that battled to take control of the Mississippi River from Confederate forces were more than a thousand Black soldiers, former slaves and free men. The signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 cleared the way for their enlistment and Port Hudson represented one of the first public tests for how these men would perform in battle.
“They succeeded brilliantly, albeit at a high cost,” Sheehan-Dean said.
The Union forces failed to break the Confederate line, but in defeat, the soldiers exhibited exceptional heroism and grit. Amid the battle, a captain observed one Black soldier limping away from the hospital and toward the front. When he asked the soldier where he was going, the fellow replied that though he had been badly shot in the leg, he had more to give.
