Frazier, Virginia Lane (1921–2012)

Virginia Lane Frazier was one of the first Black US Army’s Women’s Corps (WAC) soldiers to enlist in Minnesota during World War II. She served with the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, a unit made up entirely of Black women that was stationed in England between February and November of 1945. The battalion won praise for clearing a backlog of mail that provided solace to American soldiers in combat.

Academic hood presented to Gratia Alta Countryman

Academic hood presented to Gratia Alta Countryman

Black academic hood made by Cotrell & Leonard of Albany, New York, and given by the University of Minnesota to Gratia Countryman as part of an honorary Master of Arts degree, 1932. It features a white velvet band with gold and maroon lining.

United War Work Campaign poster

United War Work Campaign poster

United War Work Campaign poster. Lithograph by Adolph Treidler for the American Lithographic Company, ca. 1917–1918.

Etching by Clement Haupers

"Induction"

Etching on paper by Clement Haupers depicting an induction examination at Fort Snelling ca. 1940; created in 1981.

Little Wolf, William (1899–1953)

William Little Wolf left his home on Minnesota’s White Earth Reservation as a child to attend a series of boarding schools. In 1917, he ran away from Carlisle Indian Industrial School in order to join the Navy and fight for the United States in World War I. He earned praise for his service as a gunner on the USS Utah and returned in 1919 to live out the rest of his life in Minnesota.

Ojibwe soldiers returned from World War I

Ojibwe soldiers returned from World War I

Uniformed Ojibwe soldiers returned to Wisconsin from fighting in World War I gather with other Ojibwe wearing traditional regalia on June 19, 1919. Interpreter Ira O. Isham is in the foreground.

William Little Wolf, 1942

William Little Wolf, 1942

William Little Wolf in Minneapolis. Picture printed in the Minneapolis Sunday Tribune and Star-Journal on February 22, 1942, page 17.

William Little Wolf, ca. 1917

William Little Wolf, ca. 1917

William Little Wolf (enlisted as "William Leon Wolfe") in his US Navy uniform, 1917. Carlisle Indian School Digital Archives/National Archives and Records Administration.

Willis, Dorsey (1886–1977)

On November 6, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt dishonorably discharged 167 African American infantrymen from their battalion at Fort Brown when they refused to confess to committing acts of violence in Brownsville, Texas, riot three months earlier. Dorsey Willis, the last surviving member of this battalion, lived in Minneapolis from 1913 until he died in 1977. In 1972, his dishonorable discharge was changed to an honorable one, and with the help of Senator Hubert Humphrey, he was allowed a pension of $25,000.

Dorsey Willis being interviewed

Dorsey Willis being interviewed

Dorsey Willis interviewed in January 1974. United Press International (UPI) photographs collection, Frank Mt. Pleasant Library of Special Collections and Archives, Chapman University.

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