Charles Sumner Post #25, G.A.R.

Charles Sumner Post #25, G.A.R.. A Symbol of Social Change. , You are looking at a rare survivor, a building that embodies the radical social change brought on by the Civil War. In 1882, 28 African American veterans of the United States Colored Troops (USCT) chartered the Charles Sumner Post #25, Grand Army of the Republic. The post also had an auxiliary wing, Women's Relief Corps 1, the first such group organized in Maryland., The hall was constructed around 1908 and remained a center of African American life for decades. Nearly destroyed in 2001, it reopened to the public in 2014, and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Charles Sumner Post #25 was one of 560 Maryland posts, of which 22 were African American, and is now one of just two African American G.A.R. buildings still standing in the United States., Union veterans formed the G.A.R. as a national fraternal organization in 1886 to strengthen fellowship (Fraternity), to provide care for retired soldiers and their dependents (Charity), and to celebrate and uphold the constitution (Loyalty). The G.A.R. lobbied for the payment of earned pension and disability payments and also has the distinction of being the first racially integrated national organization in the United States. In 1868, the G.A.R. established Decoration Day on May 30, the forerunner to our Memorial Day., Known today as Sumner Hall, the building houses programs and exhibitions that honored African American veterans; promote an understanding of African American history and culture; and advocate for social and racial justice., [Captions:] , Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner urged President Abraham Lincoln to extend full rights to African Americans. He also argued for the 15th Amendment, passed in 1870, which extended voting rights to black males. Kent County's U.S. Senator George Vickers opposed it., African American G.A.R. Members March in Washington, D.C. , More than 500 African Americans from Kent County served in the Army and navy during the Civil War. For decades after the conflict, African American veterans paraded through Chestertown to commemorate Decoration Day and place flowers "on the graves of dead soldiers, Black and White, Union and Confederate."