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A CONGRESSMAN’S LIFE-LONG FIGHT TO BRING RACIAL JUSTICE TO THE US MILITARY AWARDS OF THE MEDAL OF HONOR
November 11 is Veterans Day in the United States. There is no higher award or honor that military heroes can receive than the Medal of Honor.
Yet, it is striking that until April 24, 1991, out of a total of 3,417 Medals of Honor awarded to American service members, only 77 were given to African Americans, but none of these were given to African Americans who had served in World Wars I and II.
This dire statistic changed on April 24, 1991, when the first Medal of Honor was bestowed, posthumously, upon a black American hero of World War I, Sgt. Freddie Stowers of South Carolina, who heroically sacrificed his life in France on September 28, 1918, at the age of 21. At that White House ceremony in 1991, President George H. W. Bush praised the heroism of Sgt. Stowers and twice thanked former Congressman Joe DioGuardi of New York for his efforts to make it happen.
