It would be hard to find a better example of why Black History Month still matters than the story of the World War I monument on the grounds of the Lowndes County Courthouse.
The story was laid out in Saturday’s edition of The Dispatch. About five years ago, when Chuck Yarborough’s history class at Mississippi School for Math and Science was researching material for its annual Eighth of May program, students discovered a Daughters of the American Revolution scrapbook from 1921 that listed nine Black soldiers from Lowndes County who lost their lives in World War I. Their names, however, were not included on the DAR-dedicated monument first placed at the Magnolia Bowl in 1933 and rededicated on the courthouse lawn in 2015.
MSMS students also identified three more Black Lowndes County soldiers who died in “The Great War,” which means more than a third of the Lowndes County World War I dead are not honored on the monument.
These omissions were brought to light in October by another MSMS student, Dylan Wiley, as part of a “Community Read” event, a collaboration between the city of Columbus and Mississippi University for Women. Wiley stood before the monument and read the names of those 12 Black soldiers.
Because there is no room on the existing monument to add the names of those soldiers, one idea was to erect another monument near the original to list the names of these soldiers. That monument would require context to explain why these men’s names were not included on the original monument.
Under normal circumstances, say if those names were not intentionally left of the monument, an additional monument would be fine. But the absence of their names tells a different part of our history, of how the contributions of Black citizens were ignored well into the 20th Century.
But a second monument telling that part of history might cast the 22 soldiers whose names are on the original monument in an unfair light. Those 22 soldiers played no role in the decision to dishonor their fellow Black soldiers. The idea of separate monuments for Black and white soldiers dishonors the memory of all those soldiers and what they fought and died for.
The best solution – really, the only solution — is to replace the monument with a new monument that lists all 34 names in alphabetical order, with no distinction made for race.
City and county officials have been talking informally about how to correct the error, perhaps sharing those costs. There is also some talk of seeking private donations to help defray those costs, which have yet to be estimated.
Ideally, the DAR would take responsibility. They made the mess in 1933. They should clean it up in 2024.
The DAR’s track record on race is not a good one, but over the past 40 years, the DAR has made an effort to make amends for its past wrongs. Most recently, the DAR announced in August it was joining in the 10 Million Names project, which aims to recover the names of up to 10 million people enslaved in the United States before emancipation, locate their living descendants and provide genealogical resources in a permanent, free, publicly accessible database.
Certainly, addressing the missing names on the World War I monument qualifies as another opportunity for the organization to redeem its reputation.
This initiative is more than a financial endeavor though; it’s a moral commitment to inclusivity and historical integrity. Erecting a new monument that lists all names without racial distinction is yet another step towards healing and unity. It embodies our collective responsibility to acknowledge and amend past injustices, ensuring that every soldier’s sacrifice is recognized.
For those reasons, the initial goal should be to let that moral commitment guide the community toward identifying a solution. We urge the city and county to continue the conversation and commend Yarborough and Wiley for their work on bringing this to light.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
