For the first time in history, Black veterans are getting a monument to acknowledge their service and contributions in the U.S. military.
The African American Veterans Monument was unveiled Saturday in Buffalo, New York, to honor Black veterans and active-duty military service members both past and present. The monument serves as a permanent marker recognizing the contributions of African Americans who served in the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marines and the Coast Guard.
Military members, veterans and city and state officials, including New York State Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, gathered in the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park, the largest naval park in the country, for the unveiling ceremony. The event came two days after the anniversary of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, the document issued by President Abraham Lincoln on Sept. 22, 1862, that set a date for the end of slavery.
