Charles Young Rides Against Discrimination

The first Black man to achieve the rank of colonel in the U.S. Army was Charles Young in 1917. Although he was positioned for promotion to brigadier general during World War I, resistance from white officers led the War Department to remove him from active duty, officially citing high blood pressure. In 1918, Young rode on horseback from Wilberforce, Ohio, to Washington, D.C., to demonstrate his physical fitness. He was reinstated as a colonel later that year, although the Army did not fully rescind his forced retirement.

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