Robert L. Robinson certificate of promotion   Save
National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center
Description: Major Charles Young of the 9th Battalion of Ohio Infantry Volunteers promotes soldier Robert L. Robinson of the same to Corporal on June 6, 1898. Charles Young was the first African American to reach the rank of Colonel in the U.S. Army and, at the time of his death in 1922, was the highest-ranking African American officer in the Army. He is known for having been forced into retirement due to health concerns before the start of World War I and later riding from Wilberforce, Ohio, to Washington, D.C. to prove his physical fitness for duty. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: NAM_MSS12_B12F05
Subjects: 9th Battalion Ohio Volunteer Infantry (O.V.I.); African American soldiers; Military officers; Young, Charles, 1864-1922.; African American men; World War I, 1914-1918
Places: Ohio