INDOOR EXHIBIT IS CLOSED

Share Your Ancestor's Story

The Museum invites descendants of the United States Colored Troops (USCT) to publicly present their family member's ancestral information on the first Saturday of each month.

Since the dedication of the African American Civil War Memorial on July 18, 1998, the African American Civil War Memorial Freedom Foundation and Museum have maintained a large network of descendants of the USCT.

These descendants play a significant role in sharing these Soldiers’ history and personal stories. We have connected with over 4,000 descendants and collected over 200 filmed narratives through the Descendants Oral History Project.

Featured: Beverly McDonald delivers a presentation on her ancestor, Robert Burdett, of the 12th United States Colored Heavy Artillery Regiment.

Descendants Oral History Project Presentations Presentations

Discovering Daniel Grant Descendant Presentation

Moses Smith 1st US Colored Heavy Artilitery Descendant’s Presentation

Gunter Green (Green Gunter) 119th USCT Descendant’s Day Presentation March 1, 2014

Albert Burks

Descendants Presentation Denise Griggs -Peter Hunt

Descendants Presentation Alvin Blakes Philip McWhorter

Descendants Presentation Vernita Morgan Absalon and Ezekiel Dimery

Your Real Name is Garrett with Audrey Hinton

How can you present your Ancestor's story?

Please consider the following guidelines and tips below:

For more information about the Descendants Oral History Project and how to locate military documents, please contact Dawn Chitty at info(at)afroamcivilwar.org.

Please complete a descendants registration form to schedule your presentation. We suggest you submit your form a month before your preferred presentation date. A staff member will send you a confirmation email if the date and time are available.
Please inform the museum about the format of your presentation (i.e., PowerPoint, poster, etc.). We require you to submit a copy of your presentation at least one week before your scheduled date and time if you will be using PowerPoint.
The museum has Internet access, a computer, a projector, and a screen available for your presentation. Please let the museum know what items you will need in advance.
Presenters should check in at least 15 minutes before their scheduled presentation time.
Please speak loud and clear while presenting. The museum will record the presentation. The confirmation email will include a release form for you to sign if you did not sign it during the registration process.
Presentations should not be longer than 25 minutes. We will allow 10 minutes for questions after the presentation.
Presentations should include some of the following information:
- Soldier’s Name
- Age
- Place of Birth (if known)
- Rank
- Regiment/Company (type of regiment, i.e., infantry, cavalry, artillery, etc.)
- Date of Enlistment
- Date of Muster out of Service
- Details of Service (what they did, if known)
- Information about the soldier before the war (enslaved status, occupation, family)
- Information about the soldier after the war (home, occupation, activities, family)
- Date of death (if known)
- Family (information about immediate family, how you are related to the soldier)

If you are unable to present during one of our scheduled presentation dates, you may do the following options:

Schedule another time to conduct a presentation.
Conduct a private one-on-one interview.
Submit a pre-filmed presentation to the museum to add to our collection.

Descendants may request a certificate of honor from the museum by filling out our descendants registration form.

The Department of Veteran Affairs also has a Presidential Memorial Certificate application.

For more information about the Descendants Oral History Project and how to locate military documents, please contact Dawn Chitty at info(at)afroamcivilwar.org.

The African American Civil War Memorial Museum honors the heroic roles of 209,145 US Colored Troops (USCT) who helped end slavery and kept America united under one flag.

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