The Victory Monument was one of the first memorials in the United States to honor the contributions and sacrifices made by black soldiers in an armed conflict. It commemorates the service of the Eighth Illinois regiment in World War I. The Eighth was one of only two black combatunitsto fight in World War I and its soldiers are perhaps best known for their pursuit of German soldiers during the pivotal 1918 Battle of Aisne-Marne in France. 

Black congressman GeorgeKerseyintroduced the bill calling for the creation of the monument and theChicago Defenderraised the funds to support the project. They hired sculptor LeonardCrunelle, who created a granite pillar covered with three bronze relief panels: one depicting a black soldier, another with a representation of black motherhood, and a third with Columbia holding a list of battles fought by the regiment. The monument was dedicated by the State of Illinois on Armistice Day in 1928, only a few blocks from the Eighth regiment armory on S. Giles Avenue. Both the armory and the monument are located in Chicago’sBronzevilleneighborhood.

Doughboys (statues depicting soldiers) were common features of World War I monuments across the United States and some of the Eighth’s supporters felt that the Victory Monument was incomplete without one. They petitioned successfully for the addition of a doughboy to the Victory Monument andone was installed on the top of the pillar in 1936. The Victory Monument doughboy was the first ever to depict a black soldier.

Karamanski, Theodore. "War Monuments."Encyclopedia of ChicagoOnline.http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1315.html. Accessed July 2016.

Wingate, Jennifer.Sculpting Doughboys: Memory, Gender, and Taste in America's World War I Memorials.Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing,2013.

Text and photographs by Hope Shannon, Loyola University Chicago