Traveling Exhibit’s Stop At WVU Highlights African American Military History

Students and visitors to West Virginia University’s Morgantown campus Tuesday had an opportunity to reflect on Black history with a unique exhibit. 

The Homage Exhibit is a private collection that features over 650 items focusing on African American history and culture including photographs, records and news clippings. The display in WVU’s student union building highlighted the role of African Americans in the nation’s armed forces from the post-Civil War Buffalo Soldiers to today.

Morris McAdoo, one of the curators of the collection, says the exhibit’s primary sources and photographs help visitors who may not have prior exposure to form their own perspective and viewpoint on Black history.

“Many of the students that I’ve spoken with here, they’re from smaller towns. It is so beneficial that institutions are allowing this,” he said. “To be in places where some of the students don’t have access to actually see the articles that come directly from that period and frame their own position or understanding of what happened in that area, seeing the actual pictures and seeing the servicemen and the different billboards and advertisement when they came to try to recruit African Americans, it’s important to actually see it up front.”

One of McAdoo’s personal favorite pieces in the display is a grouping of portraits and a biography of Benjamin O. Davis, Sr. the Army’s first African American general officer. 

“It shares just a little bit of light and glory that, yeah, this is a time where these young African American males were not treated equal. They didn’t have rights. There was nothing from a legislature that would support them to have equal rights,” he said. “But you do see beacons of hope, such as General Davis, where he rose to the point of representing, you know, his country, and representing at such a large field, and be the first to do it.”

According to McAdoo, the Homage Exhibit started from the personal collections of his and his wife Nia’s relatives in the 50s, 60s and 70s. He said older and more contemporary pieces are often contributed by the public after having viewed the collection on one of its stops.

“A lot of the things that you see here, we either obtain them privately or we have them on loan from other museums who maybe have too much of an inventory, so they become donations, or become loans,” McAdoo said.

McAdoo said one of the most important parts of the exhibit as it travels across the country is to make connections to local history and tradition. That includes Earl Muse of Princeton, West Virginia who in 1974 made history as the first Black State Commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in the country.

“What we’ve tried to do is recognize that this is not just Black history, but this is your regional history, and so that’s why it’s important,” he said.