“We write so they are not erased. We remember so they are not silenced.”

As the nation pauses to honor fallen service members this Memorial Day, we at Intellectual Ink take time to uplift the names, faces, and stories of Black veterans—many of whom served a country that refused to fully see them.

From the battlefields of the Civil War to the deserts of Iraq and Afghanistan, Black Americans have fought and died for freedom, both abroad and at home. Their legacy is more than bravery—it is resistance. It is loyalty tested by injustice. It is dignity in the face of denial.

A Memorial Rooted in Black Legacy

Before Memorial Day was a federal holiday, it was a grassroots act of remembrance—and Black Americans were at the center of it.

On May 1, 1865, in Charleston, South Carolina, just weeks after the Civil War ended, a group of freed African Americans held what many historians consider the first Memorial Day ceremony. They reburied hundreds of Union soldiers who had died at a Confederate prison camp and decorated their graves with flowers, prayers, and songs of liberation.

More than 10,000 people—including Black schoolchildren—marched to honor the fallen.
It was a declaration: we will remember our dead, even if the nation will not.

Documented by historian David W. Blight in Race and Reunion, this event speaks to how Black communities have always honored sacrifice with both mourning and meaning.

They Served, They Sacrificed, They Were Erased

While their contributions are vast, Black service members have historically been underrepresented in military histories and national commemorations. They faced segregation in the ranks, limited recognition, and fewer post-service benefits.

Yet they still served.

• The Harlem Hellfighters fought longer than any other American unit in WWI.
• The Tuskegee Airmen shattered ceilings in the skies of WWII.
• Black women nurses and medics held the line while fighting racism inside military hospitals.

Their sacrifices are too often footnotes. We’re here to change that.

Why Storytelling Matters

Every name remembered is a life re-honored.
Every story told reclaims space in a narrative that tried to shut them out.

As writers, artists, and creatives, we hold the power to preserve these legacies—not just in history books, but in poems, plays, fiction, and memoirs. Storytelling is memory work.

Let’s write them into the legacy they earned.

A Call to Remember

This Memorial Day, take a moment to:

• Say their names.
• Research their units.
• Ask your elders who served.
• Tell their stories in your own voice.

Their memory is more than a moment—it’s a mission.