Scope and arrangement
The Military collection documents primarily the military activities of African Americans in the United States armed forces, dating from the American Revolution to the mid-1980s. The collection, which depicts mostly the wartime activities of the United States military and is strongest for the period from World War II (1940s) to the mid-1950s, includes single and group portraits of enlisted personnel and officers; views of battles and troop movements; views of military encampments near battle sites or in foreign lands; and views of military bases and training camps, depicting daily military life and basic training, mainly from the 1940s to the mid-1950s. The U.S. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps are the most represented branches of the armed services. Images from the 1700s, the 1800s, the Korean War and Vietnamese Conflict, and the late-1950s to the 1890s are limited. Images depicting civilians employed in the war industries during World War II are filed separately. There are some depictions of foreign troops, mainly during World War II.
Images dealing with the American Revolution (depicting events from 1775-1783) are limited, and include photographic and photomechanical reproductions of paintings and engravings of portraits and views of African American soldiers and military aides, American and British officers, and Minutemen; battle scenes and troop movements; and the participation of Peter Salem at the Battle of Bunker Hill (1775) and Jordan Freeman at Fort Griswold (1781). Images pertaining to Crispus Attucks and the Boston Massacre are filed separately.
The War of 1812 series consists of photographic prints of engravings depicting the Battle of Lake Champlain (1814) and the Battle of New Orleans (1815).
Civil War images (1861-1865) include individual and group portraits of black Union soldiers and white Union and Confederate officers; troops on review, being mobilized, or cheered by crowds of Northern well-wishers or liberated slaves; Union troop encampments and railroad work crews; views of battles, including the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts Regiment attacking Fort Wagner, South Carolina (1863); and a group of images depicting refugee slaves (contrabands of war) escaping the South in wagon trains, in Federal camps, and at prayer meetings. Many images are reproductions of paintings and lithographs, as well as woodcuts from illustrated newspapers.
Spanish-American War images (1898) include portraits of officers, and photographs and some reproductions of paintings and illustrations depicting black troops mobilizing and participating in the battles at San Juan Hill and Quasimas, near Santiago, Cuba. The series does not include activities in the Pacific or the Philippines.
World War I images (1917-1918) include portraits and group portraits of African American soldiers and officers; troops on review; troops being mobilized; some views of troops fighting against the Germans in France; and a group of African American soldiers receiving the French Croix de Guerre. Many of these troops are identified as members of New York's 369th Regiment (the former Fifteenth New York Regiment), including First Lieutenant James Reese Europe, bandleader and the conductor of the Fifteenth New York Infantry Band, and Private Henry Johnson, the first American soldier to receive the Croix de Guerre. Also included is a series of photographic postcard portraits of soldiers, many of which were taken in a studio in Tours, France.
World War II images (1942-1945) constitute the major part of the collection. Many of the images were produced by the United States government through the Office of War Information, the U.S. Army Signal Corps, and the individual branches of the Armed Forces. A number of images were originally part of the collection held by the U.S. Army Signal Corps Photographic Center, Astoria, New York, which ceased operations in the 1960s. The series includes single and group portraits of military personnel and officers representing the Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Navy; Army, Navy and Marine Corps training camps and military bases where troops received basic training or served on their first military assignments; images of troops stationed overseas, particularly Europe, Northern Africa, the South Pacific, and southeast Asia, either on battle fronts or in Allied-controlled areas; views of liberty ship launchings; and stateside activities involving military personnel, such as war bond drives and service clubs. Notable among this series are images of the Tuskegee Army Air Field, including individual and group portraits of the Airmen; Airmen with their families; views of the 332nd Fighter Group and 99th Fighter Squadron whose crews included former Tuskegee cadets; officers and civilian workers; views of training classes and flight instruction; and some views of daily life.
Also noteworthy in the World War II series is a group of images pertaining to the Harlem Servicemen's Center, depicting its opening in 1941 and the recreational and social services it provided to service personnel on leave; the construction and launching of the liberty ship S.S. George Washington Carver, which is also shown being christened by its sponsor, Lena Horne, in May 1943; views of the U.S.S. Mason and PC 1264, the first and second Navy vessels commissioned with predominantly African American crews; individual and group portraits of the Army's Women's Army Corps (WACs) and the Navy's Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES); some images from the National Maritime Union including Captain Hugh Mulzac who commanded the merchant marine ship Booker T. Washington; views of the Fifth Army in Italy as the Allies seized control, 1944-1945; images of the 477th Composite Group at Godman Field, Kentucky, depicting Col. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., the group commander, and a base inspection by his father, Brigadier General Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., in June 1945; and views of bluejackets, basic training, and military life at the U.S. Naval Training Station at Great Lakes, Illinois. The series also includes images of foreign troops, mainly from the British, French, and Dutch colonies in Africa and the Caribbean.
Korean War images (1950-1952) include views of soldiers on the battlefront, in camps, or meeting with civilians, and some medal presentations, including one presented posthumously to a Navy pilot's family. Images from the Vietnamese Conflict (1962-1968) include some views of U.S. military advisors in Vietnam (1962); U.S. troops depicted embarking for Vietnam, relaxing in encampments, and under fire from the North Vietnamese; groups of special force teams questioning villagers and uncovering a Vietcong weapons cache; and a radiophoto of American prisoners-of-war. Images for both the Korean and Vietnam War series are limited.
Images from the Buffalo Soldiers/Indian Campaigns (1870s-1880s) are limited, depicting troopers of the 10th Cavalry in an encampment during the Apache campaign, the assembled troops of the 25th Colored Infantry assigned to guard Indian prisoners of war, and a reproduction of a sketch of a dismounted trooper of the 10th Cavalry.
The majority of images from the post World War II period (late 1945-1949) depict the activities of the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy including individual and group portraits of enlisted personnel and officers; American troops stationed in the former Axis territories (Germany, Italy, and Japan); and views of Army and Navy training centers and military bases in the U.S., with an emphasis on presenting the military's attempts to integrate its troops and the co-operation between white and African American personnel. Also included are some views of troops returning home to the United States; families being reunited at overseas bases; and medal presentations to war heroes. Activities of the U.S. Marine Corps are limited; the Air Force, Coast Guard and National Guard are not represented.
Images of general military activity dating from the 1950s to the mid-1980s include portraits and group portraits of military personnel and officers from the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, National Guard, and Navy; views of cadets and ceremonies at the West Point Military Academy; and views, from the 1950s, of Naval training centers and military bases. Images from the mid-1950s through 1980s are limited. Some limited views of the U.S. occupation of the Dominican Republic (1965) and U.S. Marines stationed in Lebanon (1982) are included.