A well-known local activist and businesswoman wants to convert a small neighborhood lot in north St. Louis into a place of honor for the thousands of Black soldiers who fought in the Civil War.
Carla “Coffee” Wright owns the parcel just north of Fairground Park, on the site of the former Benton Barracks.
Benton Barracks was the largest military base in St. Louis during the Civil War and served as a training facility, warehouse and hospital for soldiers, including those in Black regiments.
Wright plans to keep the park, called U.S. Colored Troops Memorial Park, privately owned.
“It doesn't have to be a lot, just enough to do the job and let people feel proud and appreciate who they are,” Wright said. “Because a lot of us don't know our history.”
Local historians, community leaders and descendants of United States Colored Troops soldiers braved pouring rain Friday afternoon to witness an outdoor dedication service of the future memorial.
Wright plans to raise money to build the park through donations and fundraising efforts.
She was inspired to create the park when genealogical research showed her ancestors fought in the Civil War.
According to the National Park Service, around 3,700 Black men from Missouri — mostly enslaved — served in the United States Colored Troops regiments during the war. Four regiments were stationed at and received training at Benton Barracks. Black soldiers fought in infantry and artillery but also served as cooks, nurses, pilots and in other noncombat roles.
Ultimately, Wright wants to include a memorial, fence, garden and small interpretive center and gift shop.
“If I can do this much with my little pennies and quarters, just think if other people decide to put in a few pennies and quarters,” Wright said. “So every month, you're going to see something different, bringing it together.”
Wright has in the past campaigned for wider recognition of Juneteenth, the holiday that commemorates when the last enslaved people to be freed learned of their freedom under the Emancipation Proclamation.
Safiyah Chauvin, whose great-grandfather served in the United States Colored Infantry, said she wanted more people to know about the history of Black soldiers.
“It’s been shut out historically,” she said. “We fought for our own freedom. We wouldn’t have won the Civil War without black soldiers.”
Historian Johnson Lancaster said people do not always learn the full story about the Civil War. For example, Abraham Lincoln wrote that his primary objective in the war was to keep the Union intact, not necessarily to end slavery.
“If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that,” Lincoln wrote in an open letter in 1862.
“Our goal was always to abolish slavery and live as free men and women,” Lancaster said. “That’s a prime reason for remembering.”
The legacy of the soldiers can still be felt in Missouri. Emancipated Black soldiers after the war raised money to establish a school for other freed people. That school became Lincoln University in Jefferson City, which still operates now.
