November 8, 2017
A century ago World War I changed the world, and Greensboro, forever. The Greensboro History Museum is proud to present Lest We Forget: WWI through the Eyes of Nine, opening Saturday, November 11.
Beginning in 1917 wartime mobilization affected everyone differently. WWI through the Eyes of Nine examines the monumental effects of the first world war on a diverse cross section of Greensboro’s population at the time. Artist and Buffalo Soldier Malvin Gray Johnson marched across the battlefields of France with a sketch pad in his pocket. Red Cross army nurse Dorothy Hayden saw war’s carnage in evacuation hospital operating rooms. At home, Professor Harriet Elliott organized college women on the home front while C. M. Vanstory coordinated civil defense efforts.
The memories of wartime are etched into Greensboro in different ways too. Marked by the War Memorial Stadium or in a uniform patch, the effects of the war, and the lives it changed or ended, come down to us in traces large and small. War hero Lt. Robert Campbell won the Croix de Guerre and has a building named for him at NC A & T State University. Private Maceo Alston was one of five black soldiers who died in the war, yet we have no known photo of him.
In addition to individual stories, the exhibit also includes glimpses into local volunteer companies, the Red Cross, the 1918 influenza outbreak and more. Artifacts, personal items and photos from the museum’s collections and special items on loan offer a sweeping picture of Greensboro during wartime.
