All Wars Memorial to Colored Soldiers and Sailors

The All Wars Memorial to Colored Soldiers and Sailors was commissioned in 1927 by Pennsylvania's African-American legislator, Samuel Beecher Hart. Created by Swiss sculptor J. Otto Schweizer, the memorial was to be a tribute to African American war heroes, but was originally relegated to a remote location in Fairmount Park, where it remained virtually unseen for many years. The Philadelphia Arts Jury and the Committee to Restore and Relocate lobbied elected officials until it was finally relocated to its current location in November 1994.