The Charles T. Norwood American Legion Post 157 was chartered December 19, 1924, five years after the National American Legion received its Congressional Charter. The Post was named to honor Pvt. Charles T. Norwood who served with Company H, 365 Infantry, 92nd Infantry Division. Pvt. Norwood was wounded on November 11, 1918 just hours before the Armistice to end World War I was set to begin. Pvt. Norwood died from his wounds and Lobar Pneumonia on January 17, 1919 making him the first Black solider to be killed from Raleigh, North Carolina during World War I. Pvt. Charles T. Norwood was buried in the Raleigh National Cemetery on August 21, 1921. He is buried in Section 8 Site 1226
At the time of the organization and charter of the post, Veterans Service Organizations were segregated by race as was American Society. The charter members of the Charles T. Norwood American Legion Post 157 were veterans of the World War I. The charter members of the post consisted of veterans who were medical professionals, businessmen, educators, administrators, community leaders and other occupations. The original fifteen charter members of the post were:
Dr. J. Thomas Hamlin – Pharmacist
Lt. Lawrence A. Oxley – First Black Assistant Secretary, North Carolina Welfare Department Commander, Division B, American Legion Department of North Carolina.
Mr. James E. Strickland – Banker, owner of a Real Estate Business College.
Dr. Harold L. Trigg – Educator, Superintendent, Negro High Schools, NC Department of Education, First Black President Saint Augustine’s College, Raleigh, NC.
Mr. Jerome J. Turner – Businessman
Dr. Rufus S. Vass – Physician
Mr. Frank Watson – Postal Carrier, Businessman, Higher Education Advocate.
Mr. Claud E. Whitaker – Newspaper Editor/Publisher, Lino typist.
Mr. Charles G. Williams – Community Leader
Mr. J. B. High
Mr. R. B. Jefferson
Mr. McKinley William Savage
Mr. George McDonald
Mr. James Harris
Mr. Joseph Davis
During the early years of its existence, Charles T. Norwood American Legion Post 157 produced leaders of the Division B of the Department of North Carolina American Legion. Lt. Lawrence A. Oxley served as State Commander of Division B and Past Post Commander Charles G. Irving, Sr., served as State Vice Commander for many years.
Post Commander Irving was a strong supporter of American Legion programs. He organized the post’s first unit of the Sons of the American Legion that saw his son the late Charles G. Irving, Jr., Post 157 Historian, serving in the unit during his youth. Legionnaire Irving, Sr., was troubled that Black Legionnaires could not participate in American Legion core programs with all American Legion Post state-wide and Nationally. It was under his leadership that that the division of Black and White American Legion Posts in North Carolina was resolved
