Memorial Planned for Black Soldiers of Civil War

Plans for a memorial honoring black Americans who fought with the Union Army in the Civil War were announced Thursday.

The memorial, with 70 granite slabs engraved with soldiers’ names, would be built next to a subway station along the U Street Northwest corridor, the center of the city’s black social life and commerce until the 1968 riots that followed the death of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Mayor Sharon Pratt Dixon said black Americans’ historical contributions have been overlooked.

“When you come to Washington, D.C., and you celebrate the great contributions of Americans, there is one very missing chapter in all of these monuments and all of these expressions,” she said. “That is a chapter or a monument that celebrates America’s truest patriots, because there have been no other patriots like those of African-American descent.”

The project will be financed by the city, the local transit agency, the National Park Service and public contributions.

Howard University will authenticate the names that will be placed on the granite slabs. About 185,000 blacks fought for the Union.

Approvals from several planning agencies and Congress are required before work can begin.

The site, less than two miles from the White House, is appropriate because it was the hub of activity for blacks when the city was segregated, City Councilman Frank Smith said.

“We want to bring back some of the cultural and historical significance to the U Street area that was obscured after the 1968 riots,” Smith said. “There are many young African-American people who aren’t aware of their history, their culture, and this is one way of making them more aware of the significant contributions of their fathers and grandfathers.”

A memorial honoring black Revolutionary War patriots has been proposed for the Mall near the monument to Vietnam Veterans.