Otis B. Duncan
| Otis Beverly Duncan | |
|---|---|
Otis B. Duncan
|
|
| Born |
October 18, 1873 Springfield, Illinois |
| Died | May 17, 1937 (aged 63) Springfield, Illinois |
| Buried at | Camp Butler National Cemetery |
| Allegiance |
 United States of America
|
| Service/branch |
 United States Army
|
| Years of service | 1902–1929 |
| Rank |
 Colonel
|
| Battles/wars | |
| Awards | |
Otis Beverly Duncan (November 18, 1873 - May 17, 1937) was an officer in the United States Army. He was the highest-ranking African American in the American Expeditionary Forces at the end of World War I, serving as a lieutenant colonel in the 370th Infantry Regiment.
Illinois was different from other states during the Jim Crow era in that it organized, and paid for the training of, an all-African-American regiment within the Illinois National Guard. This unit, organized in the 1870s, was the 8th Illinois Infantry.
Otis B. Duncan was born on November 18, 1873 to Clark and Julia (née Chaverous or Chavous) Duncan. He was a member of a long-established African-American family of Springfield, Illinois; his father was a grocer and his maternal great-grandfather, barber William Florville, had been a friend of Abraham Lincoln.
In 1895, Duncan became a worker for the state of Illinois, serving in the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (the predecessor of the current Illinois State Board of Education). In addition, Duncan entered the Illinois National Guard in 1902; assigned to the 8th Illinois, he was commissioned as an officer. When the 8th Illinois was called into national service during the Pancho Villa Expedition into Mexico in 1916, Duncan served as a major on the regimental staff.
Despite (or perhaps because of) his service as an officer in the Illinois National Guard, Duncan was a prominent victim of the Springfield Race Riot of 1908. Contemporary news accounts indicate that a white mob broke into and ransacked Duncan's house; they shattered furniture, smashed the family piano and used Duncan's National Guard saber to gouge out the eyes of a portrait of Duncan's mother that was hanging in the house. The mob was reported to have stolen clothes, jewelry and everything of value they could find, including the saber.
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