Elizabeth A. Gloucester: The Wealthiest Black Woma…
Mrs. Molyneaux Hewlett Douglass
Elizabeth B. Slaughter
Bettiola Heloise Fortson
Officer Bertha Whedbee
Mary Sampson Patterson Leary Langston
Pete and Repeat
Lucille Bishop Smith
Miss Pope: The Rosa Parks of DC
Mary Church Terrell
Harriet Russell
Kitty Dotson House Pollard
Leah Pitts
Louise DeMortie
Katherine 'Kittie' Knox
Elizabeth “Lizzie” Austin Taylor
Althea Gibson
Mabel Fairbanks
Mamie Cunningham
Daniel Freeman: DC's 1st Black Photographer
Robert Blair
Wells and Wells
Madame Marie Selika
1st Black Female Aviatrix: Bessie Coleman
Marie A. D. Madre Marshall
Forgotten No More: Annie Malone
Annie Mae Hunt
Addie Rysinger
Julia P Hughes
Martha Bailey Briggs
Alethia Browning Tanner
Lady Bicyclists
Elizabeth Jennie Adams Carter
Caroline Still Anderson
Dr. Catharine Deaver Lealtad
William Henry Hunt and Ida Alexander Gibbs
Harriet Gibbs Marshall
Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner
Charlotte Louise Forten Grimké
Elise Forrest Harleston
Fannie Emanuel
Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer
Dr. Easterling
Minnie D. Woodard-Smith
Lydia Flood Jackson
Authorizations, license
-
Visible by: Everyone -
All rights reserved
-
38 visits
Their Gold Was Not Tarnished: Loved Ones of the Fallen


Mothers and widows of soldiers killed in action during World War I were invited by the United States government to take a pilgrimage to view the burial places of their sons and husbands in Europe. Of the 17,389 women eligible for the pilgrimage, 624 were African American. Even though the sacrifices of their sons and husbands were equal, the travel accommodations for the mothers were not.
African American Gold Star mothers sailed to France aboard the American Banker in 1933, on a mission to visit the graves of their loved ones killed in World War I. After World War I, women who lost a child during the war received special recognition as Gold Star Mothers. Between 1930 and 1933, the government sponsored Gold Star Mother Pilgrimages overseas for the mothers of soldiers buried in European graveyards. African American Gold Star mothers weren’t allowed to sail on the same ship with the white Gold Star mothers, but instead traveled separately on a “second-class vessel.” Black male journalists outraged by the program’s segregationist policies wrote articles with the hopes of pressuring the government to give African American mothers the same treatment as white mothers. Approximately 25 women canceled their reservations and never made the pilgrimage. 279 mothers and widows comprised six all-Black groups that traveled between the years of 1930 and 1933.
Sources: Dick Lewis/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images; American Battle Monuments Commission; timeline.com; Smithsonian/National Museum of African American History and Culture
African American Gold Star mothers sailed to France aboard the American Banker in 1933, on a mission to visit the graves of their loved ones killed in World War I. After World War I, women who lost a child during the war received special recognition as Gold Star Mothers. Between 1930 and 1933, the government sponsored Gold Star Mother Pilgrimages overseas for the mothers of soldiers buried in European graveyards. African American Gold Star mothers weren’t allowed to sail on the same ship with the white Gold Star mothers, but instead traveled separately on a “second-class vessel.” Black male journalists outraged by the program’s segregationist policies wrote articles with the hopes of pressuring the government to give African American mothers the same treatment as white mothers. Approximately 25 women canceled their reservations and never made the pilgrimage. 279 mothers and widows comprised six all-Black groups that traveled between the years of 1930 and 1933.
Sources: Dick Lewis/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images; American Battle Monuments Commission; timeline.com; Smithsonian/National Museum of African American History and Culture
- Keyboard shortcuts:
Jump to top
RSS feed- Latest comments - Subscribe to the comment feeds of this photo
- ipernity © 2007-2025
- Help & Contact
|
Club news
|
About ipernity
|
History |
ipernity Club & Prices |
Guide of good conduct
Donate | Group guidelines | Privacy policy | Terms of use | Statutes | In memoria -
Facebook
Twitter