how the memorial project came about...

As a child growing up in Plainville, Connecticut, Maurice A. Barboza was fascinated by a picture that hung in his grandmother's living room of his great great grandfather in a civil war uniform.

As an adult working in Washington, D.C. in 1978, curiosity led him to the U.S. Archives where he found the man's war records. Eventually, he traced his ancestry to a white patriot of the American Revolution. Maurice's grandmother, his only grandparent born in the U.S., was of mixed parentage. Two years later, on the suggestion of genealogist Charles L. Blockson, he joined the Sons of the American Revolution, with ease.

In 1980, Maurice suggested to his aunt, Lena Santos Ferguson, that she join the Daughters of the American Revolution. Immediately, her race became an obstacle. She was admitted to a chapter in 1984 only after a nationally-publicized battle. Convinced that Lena's treatment was a reflection of America's ignorance of black contributions, Maurice decided to do something about it.

In late 1984, while working at the American Bar Association, he launched the campaign to build the memorial. In 1987, he left his job and sold his home and most of his possessions. All of his resources were invested in the memorial project.

From May 2, 1978, when he began his quest to discover his family's ancestry, until June 2, 2005, Maurice has spent 1,413 weekends, 9,894 days, 237,456 hours, and 14,247,373 minutes working on one of the minutiae of the project.

"My aunt Lena," he said, "was my source of strength through more than 15,000 telephone calls (over 1 per day) and countless face-to-face conversations. Since Rep. Nancy L. Johnson introduced legislation to authorize the memorial on February 7, 1985, he says, "I not only entered into a pact with the spirits of the dead patriots, I gave my bond to every soul who joined the cause that this memorial would be built."

When Maurice and Lena left the project in 1992, they continued to promote the black patriots. They, and Lena's law firm, Hogan & Hartson, spent 17 years, from May 1984, when Lena's settlement agreement was signed with the DAR, until 2001, when her dream of a compendium of the black patriots was partially fulfilled.

Maurice and Lena, and the coalition of support groups, including General Motors Corporation, had achieved --

• a coveted site on the National Mall;
• an approved design;
• massive and positive national publicity;
• the value of over $500,000 in donated, legal, architectural and public relations services;
• over $1 million in donations;
• a National Advisory Council composed of outstanding leaders; and
• a corporate benefactor, GM, that would eventually donate nearly $2.5 million. 

Prince Hall Masons	Sons of the American Revolution	US Conference of Mayors
National Urban League	National Education Association	Daughters of the American Revolution
NAACP	National Black Caucus of State Legislators	National Governors Association
American Bar Association	AFSME	American Federation of Teachers
AFL-CIO	American Jewish Congress	Veterans of Foreign Wars
National Council for Black Child and Family Development	Massachusetts Veterans of Foreign Wars	Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York