Celebrating Black History Month: Charles Young, first African American colonel in US Army

Charles Young, born March 12, 1864 in Mays Lick, Kentucky, was the first African American to achieve the rank of colonel in the US Army. His parents were slaves, but his father escaped slavery by fleeing to Ohio and enlisted in the 5th United States Colored Heavy Artillery Regiment near the end of the Civil War.

Charles entered West Point Academy in 1884 and roomed with the only other black cadet, John Hanks Alexander.  As usual, Young experienced brutal hazing incidents and racism throughout his term.  However, he perservered and graduated in 1889, with the rank of second lieutenant,  becoming the third black man to do so.  Alexander had graduated in 1887. Young served mostly with the Buffalo Soldiers,  first assigned to the Tenth US Cavalry Regiment and then the Ninth US Cavalry Regiment in Nebraska.  

During the Spanish-American War, he was temporarily promoted to major of volunteers in May 1898. He was mustered out of the volunteers in January 1899 and reverted to his rank of first lieutenant.  He was promoted to Captain in the 9th Cavalry Regiment in February 1901. 

By the time of the 1916 Punitive Expedition by the US into Mexico, Young had been promoted to major.  Because of his exceptional leadership of the 10th Cavalry in Mexico he was promoted to lieutenant colonel in July 1916.  In 1917, he was promoted to colonel, the first African American to achieve this rank.

Just before the beginning fo WWI, a white lieutenant did not want to be outranked by a black man and complained to the Secretary of War Newton Baker, who refused to transfer him.  President Woodrow Wilson overturned Baker's decision and transferred the lieutenant. Baker realized that if Young was allowed to fight in Europe, he would be eligible for promotion to brigadier general. That meant he would be commanding white officers, so the War Department placed him on the inactive list due to "high blood pressure".  

In November 1918, Young traveled from Wilberforce, Ohio to Washington DC on horseback to prove his physical fitness and was reinstated to active duty as a colonel.  In 1919, he was assigned as military attache to Liberia.

During a reconnaissance mission in Nigeria in late 1921, Young was taken ill and died of a kidney infection in January 8, 1922.  He was the fourth soldier to receive a funeral in Arlington Memorial Ampitheater.

In February 2020, Young was posthumously promoted to honorary brigadier general in Kentucky by then Governor Andy Beshear. 

Brief history of Col. Charles Young

Celebrating Black History Month: Buffalo Soldiers, first all-black Army regiment

 The Buffalo Soldiers were the first all-black Army regiment established by US Congress in 1866.  During the Civil War, the government formed regiments known as the United States Colored Troops, but they were disbanded in 1865.  The Buffalo Soldiers first participated in wars against the Native Americans, escorting US mail, and bulding roads in the southwestern area and Great Plains regions.  

They participated in two of the largest range wars, battles in the American Old West fought between large cattle rangers against smaller ranchers and farmers who competed for land, water, and livestock. 

Buffalo Soldiers participated in WWI and WWII, but in 1948, President Truman desegrated the US army.  The Buffalo Soldiers were disbanded on December 12, 1951. 

Over its history, more than two dozen soldiers received the Medal of Honor for their service.

Buffalo Soldiers brief history

Celebrating Black History Month: Harriet Pickens and Frances Wills, first African American women commissioned in the US Navy

 

Harriet Ida Pickens, born March 17, 1909 in Talladega, Alabama, and Frances Wills, born July 12, 1910 in Philadelphia, Pennyslvania, were the first two African American female officers to be commissioned by the US Navy.

The WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) was established in 1942 during WWII, and many African American women wanted to enlist.  Then-Secretary of the US Navy Frank Knox refused their admission, following his death in April 1944, President Franklin Roosevelt authorized their inclusion in the WAVES.  Pickens and Wills were the first African American women chosen as recruits. They were enlisted on November 13, 1944.

Pickens passed away in 1969 in New York City after a stroke.  Wills died in January 1998 in New York City. 

Harriet Pickens and Frances Wills

Peter Tork of the Monkees born 1942

 

Peter Tork, born Peter Halsten Thorkelsen February 13, 1942 in Washington, DC, rose to fame as a member of The Monkees, a television show that aired in the 1960s. He began piano lessons at nine and learned to play banjo and guitar.  Tork joined the folk music scene in Greenwich Village.

Tork was cast in The Monkees with Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Michael Nesmith.  He left the show in 1969 and began a solo career.  He appeared on numerous television shows and movies into the 2010s.

He passed away in February 2019 from cancer.

Milkshake by Peter Tork

Celebrating Black History Month: Nancy Leftenant-Colon, first African American in US Army Nurse Corps

 Nancy Leftenant, born September 29, 1920 in Goose Creek, South Carolina, became the first African American in the regular US Army Nurse Corps in March 1948. She trained at the Lincoln School for Nurses in the Bronx and joined the US Army Nurse Corps in 1945 as a second lieutenant.

In 1946, she was promoted and assigned to the 332nd Station Medical Group on Lockbourne Army Air Base in Ohio.  Leftenant-Colon became a flight nurse in the US Air Force and served in Korea and Vietnam. 

She was promoted to major and retired from the military and her post as Chief McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey.  She passed away in January 9, 2025 at 104 years old.

Nancy Leftenant-Colon at 102

Celebrating Black History Month: James H. Conyers, first African American admitted to the US Naval Academy

James Henry Conyers, born October 24, 1855 in South Carolina, was the first African American admitted to the US Naval Academy.  He was nominated by South Carolina congress Robert B. Elliott, also an African American.  After completing his exams, he was sworn in September 24, 1872 as a cadet-midshipman.  

Life at the academy was particularly harsh and Conyers was the target of brutal hazing, being spit on, and physically attacked.  In one incident, his fellow midshipmen tried to drown him. Nine cadets were dismissed from the academy after one brutal attack, but Conyers resigned in October 1873.

He returned to South Carolina and lived a quiet life until he passed November 29, 1935.  

James H. Conyers 

Celebrating Black History Month: Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., first African American brigadier general in US Air Force

 

Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., born December 18, 1912 in Washington, DC, was the first African American brigadier general in the US Air Force.  His father was Benjamin O. Davism, Sr., the first African American brigadier general in the US Army.  

He entered the US Military Academy at West Point, graduating in 1936, become the first black man to do so since 1889.The US Army assigned him to the all-black 24th Infantry Regiment at Fort Benning, Georgia. He then taught military tactics at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.  In 1941, he entered aviation cadet training and graduated in 1942, becoming one of four first African American combat pilots in the US military.  

In September 1943, Davis was assigned to command the 332nd Fighter Group, and went overseas.  During WWII, the airmen he commanded flew more than 15,000 sorties, shot down 112 enemy planes, and damaged or destroyed 273 planes on the ground, losing only 66 of their own planes and 25 bombers.  Davis received a Silver Star for a strafing run into Austria and the Distinguished Flying Cross for a bomber-escort mission to Munich June 9, 1944. At the end of the war he had been promoted to colonel. 

When President Truman ordered the racial integration of the armed forces, Col. Davis helped draft the Air Force plan for implementing this order. He returned to combat when he assumed command of the 51st Figher-Interceptor Wing in Korea in 1953. 

He was promoted to major general in 1959 and brigadier general in 1960. He retired from the Air Force in 1970. 

President Clinton promoted Davis to four-star general in 1998.  

He passed away in July 2002.

Benjamin Davis Jr. interview