Commissioners recognize three during Black History Month
Home to mines, gas and oil wells and potential hydroelectric power, Washington County likes to call itself an energy capital. On Thursday, the Washington County commissioners remembered the contributions of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, who worked in coal mines as a youth and later focused his energy on establishing a weeklong celebration of individuals and occasions having a significant impact on African-American history in the United States.
Nearly 90 years ago, Woodson saw his idea come to fruition, and 50 years later, Negro History Week became Black History Month. Accepting the Black History Month proclamation Thursday were David Gatling, vice president of the Washington Unit of the NAACP, who substituted for President Phyllis Waller, and former Washington NAACP president Robert Griffin. The local NAACP unit was chartered in 1917, eight years after the NAACP was founded in New York.
The commissioners also took note of Company F of the 10th Regiment, 8th Division of the National Guard of Pennsylvania, which was organized in 1871. In the proclamation, the county noted the unit “is believed to be the first African-American Unit of the National Guard of Pennsylvania, and perhaps the United States.”
Monongahela and Western Pennsylvania were well-represented, and “colored” troops, as they were then known, fought alongside white troops in many battles in Virginia and the Carolinas, with the battle of Honey Hill being the most prominent. Among those listed as Monongahela Civil War veterans were members of the Simmons family, ancestors of recently deceased Judge Paul Simmons.
After the war, the military spirit of black Americans in Monongahela remained alive, and they formed the National Guard unit. Joseph R. Griffey was a second lieutenant, and his descendants include baseball stars Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr.
Accepting a certificate for his efforts to win recognition for the unit was Walter Seal of Monongahela.