African American Military & Veterans Lineage Project

The African American Military and Veterans Lineage Project, managed by the NC Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, is designed to address the lack of information regarding the roles, triumphs, and heroism that North Carolina African Americans played in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf Wars, and War on Terror. In the early conflicts, despite being given inferior equipment and less training, as well as navigating a segregated and biased military, Black Americans served with valor and courage. Most of their accomplishments do not exist in many American history books. Therefore, the African American Military and Veterans Lineage Project works to properly document and preserve the unknown or overlooked history of North Carolina African American participation in America's wars.

The African American Military and Veteran Lineage Project is designed to address the lack of information regarding the roles, responsibilities, triumphs, and heroism North Carolina African Americans played in WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. In the early conflicts, despite being given inferior equipment, less training and serving in a segregated and biased military, African Americans served with valor and courage. Most of the history of their accomplishments do not exist in many American history books.  Therefore, African American Military and Veterans Lineage Projects work towards the properly documenting and preserving the unknown or overlooked history of North Carolina African American participation in America’s wars.

This project is being operated by the North Carolina Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (NCDMVA), in collaboration with Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) School of Humanities and Social Sciences, North Carolina Museum of History, and State Archives of North Carolina’s Military Collection. The project has been generously funded through a grant from the North Carolina Humanities Council for 2020-2022.