Echoes Of Freedom: A Week Of Reflection At The African American Civil War Memorial

Last week, the echoes from Veterans Day were still vibrating off U Street as families, descendants, students, and supporters gathered at the African American Civil War Memorial to honor the legacy of the United States Colored Troops. What began as a single day of remembrance continued as a deep community reflection. A crowd revisited the names, stories, and sacrifices of more than 200,000 soldiers who fought for a nation that did not fight for them.

Frank Smith, executive director of the African American Civil War Memorial Museum, envisioned something unprecedented for this year’s commemoration: the first-ever simultaneous reading of every USCT soldier’s name. Communities answered his call. People traveled from Philadelphia, Tennessee, Illinois, and beyond to honor their ancestors or to stand in solidarity and witness history.

The ceremony opened with a moving presentation of colors by members of George Mason University’s Eight Green Machine Regiment Band. Then, for hours, the air filled with the sound of names read by veterans, families, students, and descendants. It became a collective breath with each name lifting a story back into the light.

Speakers Jan Adams and Larry Spencer, both Air Force veterans, offered reflections on the courage, character, and determination of USCT soldiers. Their remarks connected the past to the present, reminding the crowd that service and sacrifice remain a throughline in Black military history.

Among those who shared in the moment were descendants of two of the most iconic freedom fighters in American history.

Ernestine Tina Wyatt, the third great-grandniece of Harriet Tubman, described feeling overwhelmed as she heard the names. She spoke about thinking of Tubman and the countless soldiers who fought for liberation. These were men and women who risked everything so future generations could stand where she stood. Wyatt reflected on how pivotal it was that formerly enslaved people were finally allowed to fight alongside white soldiers during the Civil War, calling it a profound moment of inclusion and empowerment.

Kevin Douglass Greene, the third great-grandson of Frederick Douglass, also attended with pride. An Army veteran himself, Greene carries his ancestor’s legacy into classrooms, communities, and conversations by connecting history to the present, and children to stories that shape their understanding of freedom.

Throughout the event, a group of alternative high school students from Thurgood Marshall Learning Center in Rock Island, Illinois, joined the reading. Smith had visited the school in May and invited them to take part. Their advisors, Avery Pearl and Thurgood Brooks, said this experience created an intergenerational bridge with youth standing beside elders, touching history through names. Some students described the moment as “nostalgic,” noting that reading the names made them feel personally connected to soldiers whose stories are often left out of textbooks.

By the end of the gathering, the memorial no longer felt like a collection of engraved stones. It felt alive and held together by breath, memory, and the insistence that these soldiers’ sacrifices remain central to America’s story.

Last week, as the city returned to its normal rhythm, the names continued to echo. And for those who stood at U Street and 10th, they carried the reminder that freedom’s cost, and its caretakers, must never be forgotten.

Nailah Williams is a sophomore journalism major at Howard University. She can be reached on LinkedIn. 

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