Sergeant William Harvey Carney after the war, wearing his Medal of Honor, ca. 1901-1908. Gelatin silver print by James E Reed, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University. Public Domain.

Sergeant William Harvey Carney after the war, wearing his Medal of Honor, ca. 1901-1908. Gelatin silver print by James E Reed, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University. Public Domain.

The Defense Department efforts to purge DEI content from its website led to the deletion of a page about Black Civil War hero Sgt. William Carney, who inspired Denzel Washington's character in ...

Sgt. William Carney's Civil War heroics were depicted in the 1989 film "Glory." The Pentagon removed a story about the Carney amid its ongoing hunt for diversity, equity and inclusion material.

A 2017 article, “Meet Sgt. William Carney: The first African-American Medal of Honor recipient,” was removed from the Pentagon’s Defense.gov domain.

Army Sgt. William H. Carney was the first of the nation's 88 African-American Medal of Honor recipients, earning the medal during the Union Army's charge on Fort Wagner during the Civil War.