Charles Young Serves as Highest-Ranking Black Officer in U.S. Army

Colonel Charles Young, a West Point graduate, served throughout the early 1900s as the highest-ranking African American officer in the United States Army, commanding the Ninth Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers. He performed distinguished service in the Philippines and later as military attaché in Haiti and Liberia. Young's career demonstrated Black military excellence in the face of pervasive institutional racism and inspired generations of Black servicemen.