In common with many American composers, William Grant Still turned to patriotic themes during World War II. Only in his case, there is an added poignancy in his choice of subject matter, “In Memoriam, The Colored Soldiers Who Died for Democracy” (1943), since the black soldiers to whom the work is dedicated not only fought in segregated units, but also experienced inequality at home.

By nature, Still was not a political person, but because of the simple fact of his skin color, the association of race – of what it meant to live in and serve a country that wasn’t always fair to its minorities – is inescapable. The piece is about democracy and war, but the subtext, whether or not the composer intended it as such, is one of racial inequality, even for those who served with honor and gave everything for this country.

Still himself served in the U.S. Navy during World War I.

George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra perform “In Memoriam, The Colored Soldiers Who Died for Democracy” in Kyiv in 1965:

Charles Ives was inspired by the Memorial to Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, one of the earliest African American units in the American Civil War, when he composed “Saint-Gaudens on Boston Common,” the first movement of his “Three Places in New England” (1915). The 54th was also the subject of the film “Glory.”