Hamilton Houston, who as a lawyer, after serving in the army during World War I, had a wonderful career as a lawyer championing civil rights. Many thought that he would have been the first African American to have served on the United States Supreme Court... unfortunately, he died suddenly, but his protégé, and the person that he mentored, Thurgood Marshall, went on to serve as the first African American Supreme Court Justice. There were a lot of African American men who...after their experience in the military...went on to contribute significant service to their country and community. There were people who may not have been nationally recognized, but in their local community they were extremely significant and also helped raise the next generation to go on and do great things. Many of those people can point back to the experiences of their father at the Fort Des Moines. Gary: How is this history made available to Iowans and others? It is also relevant, that in a state that is...and always has been... predominately white...this is where the first Black officers were trained. They were accepted by the community. When Fort Des Moines opened during 1903, the first significant Calvary unit to show up was the African American 25th Infantry...referred to then as the Colored Troops. From the very beginning there has been a rich history of African American soldiers serving at Fort Des Moines, which continued in 1917 when the Fort Des Moines was selected to be the first training site for Black officers. So, local history is important. We can draw on the fact that in 2021, over 100 years ago, there was a facility for the aforementioned things to happen in a way where everyone benefited. That is a wonderful lesson for us to learn... whereby people have served Matthew: Currently, the Fort Des Moines Museum and Education Center is the place where we work to preserve, protect and promote this rich history in Des Moines, Iowa. We have more than a 10,000 square foot museum on a fiveacre piece of property where we house a collection and interpret the history of what occurred at Fort Des Moines. There is also a chapel on the same museum ground. We have a physical location that we encourage people to visit. However... currently during this pandemic we aren’t open to the public because of the concern about not just the safety of the public, but also the safety of the many dedicated volunteers who work with the museum, because we are an allvolunteer organization. their country...even in the face of discrimination and segregation... and we are all better off for it. We have made great strides because before where there were no officers or leaders in the army...after the first class graduated from Fort Des Moines...there were many African American leaders in the army. So currently...people can make an appointment and we will work to accommodate them in making plans to visit the museum. We are looking forward to reopening the museum after the pandemic is over. We also are developing an online presence for the museum. Soon, we hope to start putting many of the museum exhibits online thereby creating a way for people to interact with the museum virtually. Also, having pieces of the museum’s collection photographed and made available online. We actually just received several of our first lesson plans developed for teachers...and we are going to place them online. Right now...the history is being made available through the physical museum, but very soon we are going to have a robust online presence so that people across the state...and across the country... will be able to experience and learn about the history at Fort Des Moines. Part 2: Women Making History by Celeste Lawson Celeste: Why was the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps established, and why was it changed to the Women’s Army Corps? Matthew: The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps was established to support the war effort during World War ll. What was going on was that the effort was so big...there was a realization that more men were needed in the theatre (area in which the war was taking place) to do combat jobs and support combat missions. So...at that time...the idea was to raise and train a group of women who could serve in the army in certain jobs that were currently being done by men...freeing those
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