Brooklyn Criminal Court celebrates black veterans of war for Black History Month
The Brooklyn Criminal Court celebrated “African Americans in Times of War” during its annual Black History Month celebration that was held on Friday in Downtown Brooklyn.
Hon. L. Priscilla Hall, associate justice, Appellate Division for the Second Judicial Department, was honored with a plaque during the event and also its keynote speaker. Hall discussed the history of African Americans soldiers in the U.S. starting with the Militia Act of 1862, which allowed them to become soldiers for the first time.
“The Militia Act of 1862 was signed three months before the Emancipation Proclamation, but it wasn’t until after President [Abraham] Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation that Frederick Douglass, the great black intellectual, became an advocate of young black men joining the Union army,” Hall said.