ENCAMPMENT AT THE FAIRGROUNDS. The bleachers, visible between the tents in the image above, and the grandstand backdrop of the photograph below indicate that this military encampment took place at the Nebraska State Fairgrounds in Lincoln. While this sounds like safe duty, hundreds of Lincoln men and several women enlisted in the military during the Great War and dozens died, including two women nurses. A local Red Cross chapter of African American women rolled bandages for wounded soldiers. Several men of the community enlisted, including Dakota Talbert . Two black soldiers from Lincoln, Horace Colley and Clinton Ross, were commissioned as lieutenants.

Photographs taken on black and white glass negatives by African American photographer(s) John Johnson and Earl McWilliams from 1910 to 1925 in Lincoln, Nebraska. Douglas Keister has 280 5x7 glass negatives taken by these photographers. Larger scans available on request.