Franklin County residents and the local branch NAACP unveiled a monument Sunday to 70 Black men from the county who fought for the United States Colored Troops.
Organizers say the monument helps tell a fuller story of the county's participation in the Civil War. Franklin County long has celebrated its links to the Confederacy and as the homeplace of Confederate General Jubal Early. But on Sunday, residents remembered a different connection to the Civil War, as a community movement called Raising the Shade unveiled a statue honoring 70 Black men from Franklin County who fought for the Union.
Larry Moore, a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, spoke as drapes fell and revealed the statue to hundreds of people in attendance: "Now with humility and reverence, we say to those who were born in bondage, who labored in slavery and now nonetheless served those country with honor, especially the 70 United States Colored Troops born in Franklin County, we say, 'Welcome home, Americans.'"
It wasn't just Franklin County residents who gathered at the memorial site in Rocky Mount. Raffeal Sears is an actor and genealogist who traveled from Kansas City to see the memorial and the engraving of the name of his great, great, great grandfather: Private Peter Hooks. For him, it was a big step toward learning about his family's history.
"Today, being here, where all of this happened, it's the start of me," Sears says. "It's the start of my family."
Sears says he's been researching Hooks for years but kept running into a roadblock, because Hooks actually joined the Union army in Tennessee. But his research turned up a genealogical profile assembled by Raising the Shade.
"I was like oh my gosh, who knows, someone knows Peter Hooks?!" Sears says. "Last Sunday I got an email. They were like, 'You need to come up here!' So, I feel like our ancestors find ways for their descendants to know who they are."
The monument was supported by a $285,000 Monuments Across Appalachian Virginia grant from the Mellon Foundation and support from Virginia Tech faculty and students.
The new monument is one of fewer than 25 around the country honoring the U.S. Colored Troops.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
