Shore History’s opening night for the Library of Virginia’s traveling exhibit, True Sons of Freedom is Friday August 8th beginning at 6pm at Ker Place in Onancock. The exhibit will hang in Ker Place until October and is free to see during the museum’s regular operating hours, 11am-3pm Tuesday through Friday.

To commemorate World War I, "True Sons of Freedom uses photographs of African American soldiers from Virginia who fought oversees to defend freedoms they were denied at home. African Americans from all parts of the commonwealth served in the army and navy during World War I. The soldiers highlighted in True Sons of Freedom came from locations across Virginia and most worked as farmers or laborers before the conflict.

Reflecting the pride and determination of African American World War I servicemen, the images were submitted by these veterans with their responses to military service questionnaires created by the Virginia War History Commission as part of an effort to capture the scope of Virginians’ participation in the Great War. The series of questions about the verterans’ experiences provides invaluable genealogical information about the soldiers, their families, and their service records.

World War I recruitment efforts aimed at African Americans brought new soldiers into the armed services, providing them with opportunities to travel, to work, and, in many cases for the first time, to face cameras- all outside the restrictions of the Jim Crow South. These pocket-sized portraits, made outdoors or in makeshift studios, became mementos for families and sweethearts. They pose in uniform, some in casual stances, others with a rifle to show their combat readiness. Here were African Americans presented as they wanted themselves seen.