Brigadier Charles Young i titled the paper or this lecture a destiny deferred because often times when you read about or if you just do a Google Search and at and examining charles life his best friend is often quoted his best friend w. E. B. Dubois and. Dubois defined youngs life as a triumph tragedy and a big part of the research. And my goal as a scholar is changing narratives. And so this is what were going to discuss this evening. Looking at this destiny of one of the finest black officers to serve, according to many of the of his followers from the late 19th century into the early 20th century. So its surprisingly, Charles Young was a humanities, you know, they i keep reading articles all the about how the the humanities are dying. Oh my god what are we going to do with this . But Charles Young at the academy he excelled in the and actually was terrible math in fact he failed math i had to get tutor help to do it but. He was a polyglot. He spoke german fluently. French and spanish. He spoke multiple dialects of french, including Haitian Creole and regular french as well as he spoke a little tagalog and a couple of other liberian really sorry languages. So it not surprising he was also a poet a pianist. He played the violin. He wrote music. He also was a playwright and, an author. And so this excerpt here is from a poem that he wrote ode memorial day and its a much longer poem is like five stanzas so i just took the last one in despair you trying to read it and im trying to you know the cadence of it is rather interesting im going to read this quick for you so african suns released in this proud land to land the virtues of the veteran army gra to their children finally to the names upon the nations honor roll to tell them black blood mingled with with the whites that right should rain and freedoms robes be bright tell them of wagner pillow of the the sacrifice all the free do not on this memorial day their word to you of nor ever from this example pay your freedoms price in labor. Love service and sacrifice, let not oppression. No, no dark deses pale in your hearts, in your hearts your countrys altar fires. And when we about the creation of memorial day, it was started by continue veterans black veterans to push for the honoring of blacks war soldiers and wanting to Honor Service and so young and this poem in the 1900s hes doing something that not a lot of black officers say today would do without outwardly criticizing the racial policies in the United States at this point in time. When he wrote this, he was the first ever africanamerican to be promoted to the rank of captain at and at the time he was he wrote this. He was the only serving black line officer in the military there were other black officers in the military, but they were not serving in the field. And so he someone who is very aware of position and who he and what he represents. So this evening we are going to embark on a journey to explore the incredible life impact and memorialization of Brigadier GeneralCharles Young. The title of our talk is a destiny deferred. It not only encapsulates the essence of youngs journey, but also serves as a metaphor for the trials and tribulations faced by this visionary leader. He also is an advocate for civil rights, a remarkable soldier, and, more importantly, when we understand and embrace the value of Charles Youngs leadership, we would help us to understand, in the value and importance of grasping what black military service meant beyond the lens of only seeing the color of the flag or seeing only green. So lets begin begin at the beginning, almost before we delve the extraordinary journey of Charles Young, lets take a moment to understand the context of his time. James Webster Smith, the first africanamerican to be to be formally admitted into west point, and he is going to before only admitted in 1870. It wasnt until 1866 with the Army Reorganization act that we get the ability for africanamericans to serve fully into the american the regular military, the regular army. And it is not until 1877 that you get the first black west point graduate which is Henry Ossian Flipper in 1874, James Webster smith who ended up being henry flipper his roommate after his first year he he actually gets kicked out of the academy after with only one credit left and so when Webster Smith leaves it leaves only henry flipper there and he eventually graduates a few years later, after henry flipper the next west point black west point graduate is john hanks. Alexander who was the second. And then the third and final black west point graduate in the 19th century, whereas Charles Young and he graduated in 1883, and when think about this. Position hes in, right in 1884, you the first black chaplain to be formally admitted, the first ever black chaplain to serve in the military was Henry Mcneal Turner in the war. But after that, its not until 1884 that we get henry vinson plummer, who was a follower of Henry Mcneill turner to actually become official, First Official, black chaplain in the regular army in the calvary and at one point in time in 1884, after he joins its going to be henry vinson, plummer, john hanks, alexander and Charles Young all serving in the ninth calvary. At the same time. And it doesnt unnoticed right. But after Charles Youngs untimely death, you do not get the first black general until 1940. And it is one of Charles Youngs followers. Bishop oh. Bishop, im sorry. Im bishop general benjamin ho. Davies senior people are more familiar with benjamin davies, his son, because of his work as a tuskegee airman, his advocacy for black leadership. And so when we think about this perspective in looking at okay this is the in life and the world that Charles Young is thriving in or serving in its a very clear message in regards to when we think about the need you can fast forward today in about military leadership black military leadership right because if you are familiar with the Supreme Court decision you saw that you know there is a exclusion for the military academies because they know they have to recruit minorities. And so this is a part of this long legacy of black military service and Charles Young is a part of this legacy. So who was he really . And whats lets go back to who he was and where hes from. Young was born in 1864, in a town called mays lick, kentucky. He was born slavery. However, his mother and father liberated themselves, escaped to ohio and ripley, ohio and his father joined the civil war, joined the union army and fought in the civil war. And its because of his fathers service, right . Its because of his fathers participation in war. And he says this that influenced his to serve because he understood that this was his right as american citizen to serve in the military and that he was honoring the legacy that his father had set for him. So young gets admitted to west point and understood then that during this time, the black community, this era, cultivated a joy and racial pride and black soldiers represented in u. S. Military uniforms because there was power in the uniform. The black soldier served with the cornerstone for racial uplift in the reconstruction and postreconstruction in jim crow america. The significance of their presence reverberated not only on the battlefield but also through society, contributing to the Broader Movement toward civil rights, inequality so young throughout, his life exemplified the spirit of leadership and duty. Made this impact possible. Youngs point experience taught him the discipline and the brutality of silence. And when he saw the type of treatment that africanamericans are receiving and understood his position, he did not remain silent. He chooses not sit by and say or do nothing. He knew what it meant to. Be treated as a man without a country, but he endured because he saw his duty as survival his aim in life was to do his duty for race and country. One of the important aspects of youngs life in regards his relationship and how he differs, say, from the first black west point graduate, is that he is going to emerge large and embrace his role as an educator and as carrying the mantle of the race for everything that he does. And what does that mean . It meant that his failure wouldnt just be his failure. His failure would be the failure of the entire africanamerican community. When henry was discharged, charged, dismissed after his court martial. The military used dismissal as, a way to basically say that, look look, we let we let them in and look what they did. They deserve to be officers. They dont to lead. Theyre only good at being told what to do. And so flip is dismissal is going to haunt black officer hours well into the 20th century. In fact, in 1925, a very scathing report was released after world war one that talks about the of the soldier. And in this was done by the Army War College and in it you know they make point to point out that black officers during world war one were pretty much a failure. And that the policy of the army should be adopted, which it is going to be, that black soldiers should only be commanded by white. Now, this is something that course, when thinking the Long Civil Rights Movement and thinking the advocacy and the fight to get blacks soldiers to be commanded by black officers while even serving in a segregated military the importance of military at the black and colleges and universities are going to make a huge difference. So this handsome young man up here is the second black workforce graduate. His name is john hanks. He and young ended up being roommates at west point. But unlike, say james, mr. Smith and henry flipper, they actually were friends and they maintained their friendship. They ended up serving together in the same regiment, the ninth calvary and fact Wilberforce University is going to be the First Black College to to have a official Science Department that is supported by the us military and what they end up doing is they get john hanks, alexander come and and hes there for two months. But unfortunately he dies of aneurysm while getting his haircut. And at the time he was a First Lieutenant and so his rank mattered it mattered in the army because. Only people after a certain rank, a certain term of service, can serve it and teach a college universitys. And so the army was in a conundrum because the president of wilberforce was like, yeah, were sad that john gone, but we need another. So come on, give us young and the army has to make an exception and allow young to go to wilberforce and it saddens him up until the you know up until his death here he often reflects on his mentor, his friend. Because he never stopped missing him and when we look at this this is a image of an encyclopedia in which you have these converse africanamericans were having a conversation about the direction of their people. And at the top, you can see little magoo. Maybe you could see this as colored officers or no colored. Right. This is endorsed by none other than dusky wizard himself, Booker T Washington. But its important to understand why the community wanted black officers, black soldiers and having that leadership because it signifies essentially this ascension beyond just being servants and what that position in regards to not just being a leader in the military, you are a leader. The community oftentimes, a lot of the veterans who are going to serve in this work with the Civil Rights Movement, they are going to be veterans, right . Theyre going to Charles Hamilton houston as the Legal Counsel leading the way for desegregation with the brown versus board of education in the acp. Its to be medgar down in mississippi fighting jim crow, segregation. Its going to be the leadership of black officers and veterans, world war one, who are going to push back against the racial violence that happens during red summer, because oftentimes when we talk about red summer, its only, you know, from the perspective of being killed. But in chicago, that wasnt the case because they had veterans setting up snipers, men picket. Folks are. How in any who but thinking about the importance of military training and this is one of the reasons why you have that consistency of africanamericans because the use of military training to defend their communities, their families is crucial because guess what they couldnt do during slavery. So now they can have guns and they had them and now they do fight back. And they did so, for example, the tulsa massacre right. How many of you watched the watchmen love show, right . It begins, unfortunately, with it. Well, fortunately begins with the tulsa massacre and for the first minute when that show aired, apparently people didnt. A lot of people had no idea. Theyre like, what is this . This happened. They were dropping dynamite from planes. Wait a minute. Their box people, this is america. Oh, gosh, no. Well, yeah, but this he is a the main protagonist. Well, the the the the father of this of the First Official superhero in the watchmen universe was a world war one veteran. Hes wearing his uniform and hes hiding and gives the gun his wife to do what . I dont know. But hes not doing anything. What actually happened was the african blood brotherhoods up a perimeter around the jail where the white mob was trying come and collect the man accused of raping a white woman. He didnt, but they were mowing down the white people because they these were trained former veterans from world war one. And they had set up a perimeter to protect and so essentially the whites were not prepared for that response. And then it escalated to the dropping of dynamite planes. But essentially in the press for years, the tulsa massacre was called the tulsa race war. Its one of the closest, most this countrys ever had to a race war because it lasted several days and it was armed. Blacks were armed whites. And looking at the import of colored officers training, black soldiers and importance of the uniform and what that service and training meant to black selfdefense, to the self esteem of young black men was the force behind Charles Youngs decision to not only want to work wilberforce, but also wanting to black . Soldiers in liberia and continuing his service at wilberforce on multiple occasions because he was committed to racial uplift, he was committed to pushing back against the barrage of negativity and hatred put forth that African Americans going to see on a daily basis living in jim crow america. So this is his commitment. But there is another person i was told that im too hard on flipper. Im not saying that i favor Charles Young or something. But want to kind of provide opposite to Charles Young, and that is going be henry flipper. Henry flipper, the first African American graduate from west point. He was very proud of that uniform. Hes very, you know, dapper young man from georgia. And he is going to write in 18 after you graduates. He writes an autobiography i think hes like 23 or something or 22. But he lived enough to write a very thick autobiography. I you know, i read it, of course. Its very its a wonderful resource but its very interesting. You think about the mentality of this person. Youre like, wow, you wrote a autobiography that a bestseller by the way. And he is going to outline, unfortunately, in his autobiography, his politics and hes going to criticize James Webster smith, the same James Webster smith that had to go through two separate Court Martials after first year and one in which the president , the United States, had to intervene because they were trying to push him out for, literally just existing and flipper criticizes smith. He criticizes smith for communicating with the press. He criticizes smith in regards to after he gets kicked out the column that he writes detailing his entire experience. And so flipper, you know, he going to set a very interesting precedent regards to his appearance or public persona with the African American community, because when he is Court Martialed. He was surprised by the lack of support that black press didnt give him to coming to his defense, he just like, wait, why arent you coming to me . I mean, i am the first black. Like, what happened . How could i have in my suit whats right. But i mean, juxtapose to his writings and juxtapose him to Charles Young, he sets a very interesting precedent. He is Court Martialed before young graduates, but he a very different approach approach me than young flipper believed that socially should be the natural outgrowth both of a similarity of instinct this is what he quote said to him color was no consequence in the question of socially quality. He argued that the lack of education and the absence, proof of equality, of intellect were the real obstacles for the africanamerican. This is an 1876. Thats the real obstacles. A civil war just ended like less than ten years. Well, over ten years ago. But thats the real obstacles, is lack of intellect and education. Yes, yes, it is. Yes. Okay. The only way over