Gov. John Bel Edwards proudly signed Act 432 into law in 2021, which created the Louisiana Heritage Monument. The legislation, authored by Senator Gerald Boudreaux, establishes a monument to honor African-American military service members from Louisiana and throughout the country. It is located in the Louisiana Veterans Memorial Park. Senator Royce Duplessis who was a member of the House of Representatives at the time, helped carry the bill in that chamber. The legislation passed with overwhelming bipartisan support,
The Louisiana Heritage Monument honors the service and sacrifice of all African-American service members throughout America’s history, from the freedmen (formerly enslaved) soldiers who fought for the Union and in the Siege of Port Hudson to the more than 80,000 African-American veterans currently living in Louisiana. The monument stands more than 9 feet high by 12 feet wide, cast in bronze and rests on limestone. It features a cast of military heroes through the ages, beginning with America’s revolutionary war and reaching forward through time to America’s newest military branch, the United States Space Force.
As retired Brigadier General Sherian Cadoria who became the first African-American woman to achieve general officer rank in the United States Army said, “We should not destroy our heritage, but build upon it. Let’s add to our past.” BG Cadoria, from Marksville, Louisiana, has received several prestigious awards for her service and leadership including Defense Superior Service Medal, Bronze Star Medal and Army Commendation Medal – and is one of the service members whose likeness is featured on the monument.
It is important to understand that many African-American men and women answered the call to serve their country even when their country was did not treat them with the equality or respect they deserved. Among them was Gordon (aka “Peter”) who was enslaved on a St. Landry Parish plantation and who was then found by Union soldiers after escaping. Two New Orleans-based photographers were in Baton Rouge covering Union activity and photographed him, showing how severely scarred his back was from the cruelty of the person who beat him. (https://www.history.com/news/whipped-peter-slavery-photo-scourged-back-real-story-civil-war). Although little is known about his life, the horrific image opened eyes regarding slavery in the southern United States at that time. Gordon joined the Second Louisiana Native Guard Infantry and was one of nearly 25,000 Louisiana freedmen who joined the fight against slavery. He was one of nearly 180,000 Black service members who fought in some of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, including the Siege of Port Hudson in 1863, where Gordon fought with distinction as a sergeant in Gen. Benjamin F. Butler’s Louisiana Native Guards.
African-American service members were critical in the Siege of Port Hudson as they primarily made up the members of the Louisiana Native Guard regiments. Though not as widely discussed, historians regard the Siege of Port Hudson as a major turning point in the Civil War as Union soldiers forced Confederate soldiers to surrender, and the Union gained control of the Mississippi River, thereby controlling the flow of commerce along the river.
The Louisiana Heritage Monument is the first of its kind on any State Capitol Complex to recognize those brave Black soldiers who fought at Port Hudson who have never received the recognition they deserved. Many who died in Port Hudson were not given proper burials. This monument honors their heroism and the website created by Southern University and A&M College will share their stories for many years to come.
Another soldier this monument commemorates is Steward’s Mate 1st Class Ferdinand A. Glapion Jr., who was a young African-American and French Creole man who grew up in New Orleans. At the time World War II broke out, he was under-age and had to get special permission from his parents to enlist. Today, at the beaches of Normandy, Ferdinand’s name is on a monument honoring those whose bodies were never recovered following the D-Day invasion. He was just 18 years old. Ferdinand’s sacrifice, and the service of all African-American soldiers before and after him, deserves to be remembered and memorialized.
According to research by the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs, here are the latest numbers of African-Americans who have served in our country’s conflicts from the Revolutionary War to Operation Iraqi Freedom::
*U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Minority Veterans Report, March 2017, https://www.va.gov/vetdata/docs/SpecialReports/Minority_Veterans_Report.pdf
**U.S. General Accounting Office, Operation Desert Storm, Race and Gender Comparison of Deployed Forces With All Active Duty Forces, June 1992, https://www.gao.gov/assets/nsiad-92-111fs.pdf
***National Center for Biotechnology Information, Returning Home from Iraq and Afghanistan: Preliminary Assessment of Readjustment Needs of Veterans, Service Members, and Their Families, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK220068/
