Even though five decades had passed since the Civil War, African-Americans in the United States were still fighting for rights while a new war was brewing overseas.
The United States entered World War I in 1917 and African-American men were enlisting to fight for a new claim – their country’s freedom.
February is recognized as Black History month and Park University will hold its annual event to honor not only African-Americans but also fellow Veterans in their Spencer Cave Black History Month Lecture Series at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 24, at the World War I Museum in Kansas City. The event is free and open to the public.
This will be the 13th lecture series for Park and the World War I museum.
“The Spencer Cave Black History Month Lecture Series has a 14-year relationship with the Organization of American Historians to assist us in promoting our specific yearly program by sponsorship of a historian from the organization,” said Dr. Timothy Westcott, associate professor of history. “In 2014, the Program of History has engaged an additional sponsor, due to the topic of the lecture, the Black Archives of Mid-America.”
Chad Williams, department chair and associate professor of African and Afro-American studies at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., will be the keynote speaker. For this year’s lecture they have partnered with the Black Archives of Mid- America to present “Torchbearers of Democracy: African-American Soldiers and World War I.”
“The lecture will examine the historical meaning of African-American military participation in World War I and how black soldiers and veterans, at home and abroad, fought to make democracy not just an ideal, but a lived reality,”
Park works closely with the National World War I Museum on many events.
“Park University has had a professional and educational relationship with the National World War I Museum since 2000,” Westcott said. “In addition, the Program of History engages history majors with internships at the Museum.”
