 Troop 12 was a "colored troop" formed in 1925 during the period when Scout units were segregated and, with Troop 9, was one of the two colored troops in Waterloo formed by James Lincoln Page.Cunningham was the first Scout in either of the Waterloo colored troops to earn Eagle Scout on June 8, 1926.He received a hand-written letter from President Calvin Coolidge acknowledging him as the first black Eagle Scout and Scoutmaster Page received a presidential citation.