Description: This front page editorial cartoon, published in Puck in 1880, illustrates the challenges faced by African American students at the United States Military Academy at West Point. In the 8.5 by 12.5-inch cartoon (21.59 by 31.75 cm), a young African American man is shown staggering through parallel lines of white cadets who hold weapons bearing words such as cruelty, persecution, and intolerance. Two of the first three black cadets to graduate from the military academy had connections to Wilberforce, Ohio. John Hanks Alexander (1864-1894) was the second African American to receive his degree. Following graduation, he taught military science and tactics at Wilberforce University, where the first military training programs for blacks was established. Charles Young (1864-1922), a Kentucky native raised in Ohio, won appointment to West Point in 1884 and became the third African American graduate in 1889. Young taught military science at Wilberforce University and later served in the Spanish American War as the major in command of the 9th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (O.V.I.). He had an exceptional military career, highlighted by his appointments to serve as military attache to Haiti and Liberia. He commanded troops in the "Punitive Expedition" in Mexico, and during the "Filipino Insurrection." He was also superintendent of Sequoia and General Grant national parks. At the outset of World War I, Young was the highest-ranking African American in the army. Rather than promote him, and place in a position of authority over white soldiers, the army involuntarily retired Young from active duty, ostensibly because of ill health. To prove his fitness for duty, he rode horseback from his home in Wilberforce, Ohio, to Washington, D.C. The army, nevertheless, did not promote him to colonel until after he retired from service. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om873_806510_003
Subjects: African American Ohioans; Military Ohio; Spanish American War; 9th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (O.V.I.); Arts and Entertainment; Cartoons; Political Cartoons
Places: Wilberforce (Ohio); Greene County (Ohio); West Point (New York); New York; New York (New York)