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Bust Honors First Black West Point Graduate
http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/321514,CST-NWS-grad31.article
BY JOHN MILBURN March 31, 2007
FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. -- Henry O. Flipper stoically endured hate and harassment to become the first black graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, only to be drummed out of the Army after white officers accused him of embezzlement.
He didn't see his name cleared in his lifetime, but the Army took another step in honoring his legacy Friday with the dedication of a bust of him at the Buffalo Soldier Monument at Fort Leavenworth.
''I'm very proud of him and admire him for all of his perseverance and the legacy that he left for us," said Carla Flipper, his great-grandniece.
Born a slave in Thomasville, Ga., in 1856, Flipper wasn't the first black at West Point, but he was the first to endure four years of hardships and receive his commission. He graduated in 1877, just 12 years after the Civil War ended.
''Besides having a strong academic background, someone of obvious academic talents, he was a very stoic individual,'' historian Steve Grove said. ''He didn't hit back. Flipper would just bear it.''
Grove said Flipper wrote that he ''was above that kind of behavior.'' Despite public ridicule and harassment from white cadets, Flipper was known to tutor whites in private.
At Fort Davis, Texas, in 1881, Flipper's career took a dire turn when his commander accused him of embezzling $3,792 from commissary funds. Flipper discovered the funds missing from his custody and concealed it, hoping the money would return. He was court-martialed, acquitted of embezzlement but convicted of conduct unbecoming an officer, and dishonorably discharged.
He would later write that the crime ''of being a Negro was, in my case, more heinous than deceiving a commanding officer.''
In 1999, President Bill Clinton granted him a posthumous pardon.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/321514,CST-NWS-grad31.article
BY JOHN MILBURN March 31, 2007
FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. -- Henry O. Flipper stoically endured hate and harassment to become the first black graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, only to be drummed out of the Army after white officers accused him of embezzlement.
He didn't see his name cleared in his lifetime, but the Army took another step in honoring his legacy Friday with the dedication of a bust of him at the Buffalo Soldier Monument at Fort Leavenworth.
''I'm very proud of him and admire him for all of his perseverance and the legacy that he left for us," said Carla Flipper, his great-grandniece.
Born a slave in Thomasville, Ga., in 1856, Flipper wasn't the first black at West Point, but he was the first to endure four years of hardships and receive his commission. He graduated in 1877, just 12 years after the Civil War ended.
''Besides having a strong academic background, someone of obvious academic talents, he was a very stoic individual,'' historian Steve Grove said. ''He didn't hit back. Flipper would just bear it.''
Grove said Flipper wrote that he ''was above that kind of behavior.'' Despite public ridicule and harassment from white cadets, Flipper was known to tutor whites in private.
At Fort Davis, Texas, in 1881, Flipper's career took a dire turn when his commander accused him of embezzling $3,792 from commissary funds. Flipper discovered the funds missing from his custody and concealed it, hoping the money would return. He was court-martialed, acquitted of embezzlement but convicted of conduct unbecoming an officer, and dishonorably discharged.
He would later write that the crime ''of being a Negro was, in my case, more heinous than deceiving a commanding officer.''
In 1999, President Bill Clinton granted him a posthumous pardon.
