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The Great Henry Ossian Flipper (March 21, 1856–May 3, 1940) was an American soldier and the first black cadet to graduate from the United States Military Academy (West Point). Flipper was born into slavery in Thomasville, Georgia on March 21, 1856, the eldest of five brothers. Flipper attended Atlanta University when Reconstruction began. There, as a freshman, Representative J.C. Freeman appointed him to attend West Point, where there were already four other black cadets. The small group had a difficult time at the academy, where they were rejected by the white students. Nevertheless, Flipper persevered and in 1877 became the first of the group to graduate, becoming a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army cavalry (and the first black commissioned officer in the United States). He was assigned to the 10th Cavalry Regiment , one of the four all-black Buffalo Soldier regiments in the army, and became the first black officer to command troops in the U.S. Army (previously, even all-black regiments were led by white officers).
Throughout his life, Flipper was a prolific author, writing about scientific topics, the history of the Southwest, and his own experiences. In The Colored Cadet at West Point (1878)[1] he describes his experiences at the military academy. In the posthumous Negro Frontiersman: The Western Memoirs of Henry O. Flipper (1963), he describes his life in Texas and Arizona after his discharge from the army. |
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