War and Conflict | Page 72

Major Jose H. Sherwood

Major Jose H. Sherwood, 1918. Sherwood commanded the Sixteenth Battalion of the Minnesota Home Guard.

Black and white newspaper image of Charles Sumner Smith, c.1917.

Charles Sumner Smith was Captain of Company D of the Sixteenth Battalion, Minnesota Home Guard. He was a founding member of the Twin Cities Protective League and the Minneapolis NAACP. After the Duluth lynchings he helped with the founding of the Duluth NAACP. Image is from the St. Paul Appeal, August 25, 1917.

Patrick. H. Southall

Patrick. H. Southall was Second Lt. of Company D of the Sixteenth Battalion, Minnesota Home Guard. Image is from the St. Paul Appeal, March 31, 1917.

Charles H. Miller

Charles Miller was a founding member of the St. Paul NAACP and led the Sixteenth Battalion Drum Corps. Image is from the St. Paul Appeal, March 31, 1917.

Dr. Valdo Turner

Dr. Valdo Turner in his office, ca.1915. Turner was vice president of the St. Paul NAACP and captain of the Sixteenth Battalion Medical Corps, Minnesota Home Guard.

George W. Holbert

George W. Holbert, c.1911. Holbert was Second Lt. of Company C of the Sixteenth Battalion, Minnesota Home Guard. Image is from the St. Paul Appeal, October 28, 1911.

Sixteenth Battalion, Minnesota Home Guard

During World War I, African American Minnesotans wanted to serve their state and their nation. Historically, however, the U.S. military had been racist in its recruiting. It allowed African Americans to serve only in segregated units. Facing this institutional racism, the African American community of Minnesota asked Governor J.A.A. Burnquist to form an all-African American battalion of the Minnesota Home Guard. The Sixteenth Battalion became the first Minnesota-recruited African American military unit in state history.