20th Century Integration
The social and political retrenchment that followed Reconstruction limited opportunities for people of color throughout the country, and West Point was no exception. After Charles Young became the Academy’s third Black graduate in 1889, there would not be a fourth until Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. graduated in 1936. For years, African Americans were essentially removed from West Point.
In 1907, senior U.S. Army leaders decided to staff the USMA Cavalry Detachment with 100—and later 220—troopers drawn from the famed Buffalo Soldiers of the 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments. These troopers became essential parts of the cadet experience, training generations of officers on horsemanship and cavalry drills from 1907-1946. These soldiers reclaimed and redefined their place in the foundations of the United States Military Academy, though that place was rigidly segregated and circumscribed.
That reclaimed place soon extended to the Corps of Cadets and eventually to the staff and faculty. It started as a trickle. Those who followed in Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.’s (class of 1936) footsteps navigated their experiences with only a handful of Black classmates, if any at all. There were 70 Black graduates of the Academy between 1936 and 1970. Momentum began to shift in the late 1960s as the Academy actively sought to recruit and retain a more diverse Corps of Cadets. By 1971, there were 119 Black cadets enrolled at the Academy and a small but growing number of Black members of the staff and faculty. Around the same time, the Academy also began to acknowledge, accept, and support the establishment of groups, clubs, and programs meant to build and uplift a growing Black community at West Point. Opportunities expanded along with the community, ultimately extending to the highest echelons of leadership within the Corps of Cadets and the Academy.
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BUFFALO SOLDIERS
COLLAR DEVICE
This distinctive collar insignia was unique to the United States Military Academy Cavalry Detachment. From 1907-1946, the detachment drew troopers from the famed Buffalo Soldiers of the 9th and 10th Cavalry Detachment. The decision to assign Buffalo Soldiers to West Point was a controversial one, and the detachment endured a segregated existence even as it became essential to cadet and Academy life.
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BUFFALO SOLDIERS AT WEST POINT PHOTOGRAPHS
Although isolated and segregated, the soldiers assigned to the USMA Cavalry Academy sponsorship to compete against teams from selected schools and clubs in the region. Those games received some attention and coverage locally, but never drew the following and attention that the cadet athletic teams enjoyed. Pictured here is the Cavalry Detachment football team of 1925-1926.
Black troopers of the Buffalo Soldiers were assigned to the USMA Cavalry Detachment during the Jim Crow Era. Because of this, their service was defined by an uncomfortable duality. They were at once a visible point of pride—a disciplined unit to be put on display in formal ceremonies such as in this photograph taken at West Point circa 1929. But as soon as the ceremony ended, these soldiers were expected to acquiesce to a segregated life in their own corner of the post, mixing with the wider West Point community only when official duties required it.
In 1907, senior U.S. Army leaders decided to staff the USMA Cavalry Detachment with soldiers drawn from the all-Black 9th and 10th Cavalry Detachments because of their superior discipline and horsemanship. Taken in the Riding Hall (present day Thayer Hall) circa 1925, this photograph shows Buffalo Soldiers of the USMA Cavalry Detachment performing a demonstration of their exceptional horsemanship.
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20th CENTURY CADETS
BENJAMIN O. DAVIS, JR. PHOTOGRAPH
![347353_Benjamin O Davis[49719].jpg](https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/56666/archive/fullsize/5a1ab61e2766e75a0be3ed684a8ee2a5.jpg?Expires=1715212800&Signature=n1H7XK0o%7EuQTYl6rVWgFN4SHJHdwT6fbp%7EiUmwxtsI1VBAFaiGNvkAspLb4fWNVVfiza1kHQIqC55dHa6HT9J9jk1153wVu98ML9Lx30cQ8n8KgX87XX3KuPVKbJG5uY1hhEVVyQSFUcROLX7OQUBFW9Tt%7EpyerM27zcTCdByHSN8Gk%7ElUMzHkukinu4fBjQdabwNKoEByjMOsleWBn7aFTCslPQrvhwXa9z6l-ZmImZrvO5RIGjiHdweLYLFR3NgTnun2iEE9G-G%7Eh3q-TidzX0lYVzLg8D7ta-plFgItjE8h4QZAgkEfCkmTb%7EBEjSyhyQ4-RKkl8Hl%7EgB73VWKQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM "347353_Benjamin O Davis[49719].jpg")
Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. arrived at West Point in 1932. In 1936, he became only the fourth Black graduate of the United States Military Academy. He was the first to graduate since Charles Young had in 1889. Davis’s experience of West Point suggested that little had changed—like those who came before him in the 1870s and 1880s, Davis endured severe isolation and ostracism as a “silenced” cadet for four long years. But Davis became an agent of change. While still a cadet, he had applied for service in the U.S. Army Air Corps but had been rejected due to his race. Davis was instead assigned to the all-Black 24th Infantry Regiment, and subsequently moved to succeed his father as an instructor of military science and tactics at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. It had been the norm since John Hanks Alexander graduated from West Point in 1886 that Black officers would rotate between assignments with Buffalo Soldier units and instructional assignments at historically Black colleges. But in the summer of 1941, leaders of an expanding U.S. Army opened flight training to Black officers. Davis and four other classmates graduated in March 1942, becoming the first Black fighter pilots in the American military. Promoted quickly, Davis commanded first the 99th Pursuit Squadron and later the 332nd Fighter Group as one of the leading lights of the famed Tuskegee Airmen. Davis performed brilliantly, earning the Silver Star and the Distinguished Flying Cross, and leading the units he commanded to distinction in the skies over North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Germany, and Austria. He gave an exceptional body of evidence to those arguing to desegregate the American armed forces and ensured that the U.S. Army—and later the U.S. Air Force after it became a separate service in 1947—expanded professional horizons and opportunities for Black officers.
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USMA CANDIDATE QUESTIONNAIRE: BENJAMIN O. DAVIS, JR.
Nearly half a century separated Charles Young becoming West Point’s third Black graduate in 1889 and Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. becoming the fourth in 1936. Davis experienced much of the same treatment that defined the experiences of Black cadets in the 1870s and 1880s. Similarly, the Army’s approach to managing Black officers’ careers echoed practices that shaped John Hanks Alexander’s (USMA 1886) and Charles Young’s (USMA 1889) careers, rotating them between assignments in Buffalo Soldier units, military attaché duty in Liberia, and service as professors of military science and tactics at historically Black colleges and universities. When Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. filled out this questionnaire, he listed his residence as the Tuskegee Institute because his father had already achieved the rank of colonel and had recently moved from teaching military science and tactics at Wilberforce University to teaching military science and tactics at Tuskegee. Through his superb service in World War II, Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. helped to force an expansion of professional opportunities afforded to Black officers.
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ROBERT B. TRESVILLE, JR. AND CLARENCE M. DAVENPORT, JR. PHOTOGRAPH
Clarence M. Davenport, Jr., and Robert B. Tresville, Jr. arrived at West Point in July 1939. They were assigned to different companies, as height determined company assignments at that time. Davenport and Tresville experienced the isolation and “silencing” of Black cadets and were reportedly the only cadets with no roommate during their time at West Point. Davenport recalls limited but cordial interactions with Tresville, most notably when working with the Black 10th Cavalry Regiment during horsemanship training. The Buffalo Soldiers ensured that Davenport and Tresville received good mounts. In January 1943, Davenport and Tresville became the sixth and seventh Black graduates from the United States Military Academy, marking the first time two Black cadets graduated from West Point in the same class.
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COLONEL BENJAMIN O. DAVIS JR. LETTER TO MRS. CLARENCE M. DAVENPORT JR.
On February 3rd, 1947, Colonel Benjamin Oliver Davis, Jr. wrote to Mrs. Davenport, Colonel Clarence Davenport Jr.’s (pictured above as a cadet at West Point) wife, to thank her and Davenport Jr. for their hospitality. He expressed hopes that their relationship would deepen in the future. This letter exemplifies the strength of the community between Black graduates of West Point and the support for each other that lasted lifetimes.
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GENERAL ROSCOE ROBINSON, JR. ARTIFACTS
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St. Louis, Missouri native Roscoe Robinson, Jr. was one of five Black graduates in the class of 1951, which was the most Black graduates in any class in West Point’s history to that date. Commissioned into the infantry, Robinson was highly decorated for service as a platoon leader and company commander in the Korean War, and then as G-4 and battalion commander in Vietnam. Continuing to excel at every rank, Robinson became the first Black four-star general in the Army’s history in 1982, rendering valuable service as the U.S. Representative to the NATO Military Committee until his retirement in 1985, serving as a role model and inspiration for those aspiring to follow the trail he blazed. Exhibited here are artifacts from his progress to the highest echelons of the Army: his 1951 USMA class ring, the 82nd Airborne Division ring he wore while serving as its first Black commanding general, and the Order of the Rising Sun—awarded by the government of Japan for his service in command of U.S. Army Japan, in which he earned his promotion to four-star general. The West Point Association of Graduates presented General Robinson, Jr. with this 1993 Distinguished Graduate Award for serving his country throughout a lifetime of extraordinary courage and achievement.
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MAJOR FRED A. GORDEN ARTIFACTS
Entering West Point from Michigan, Fred A. Gorden was the only Black graduate in his class of 1962. He served two combat tours in Vietnam before rising in the ranks as a staff officer. He was appointed Commandant of Cadets at USMA in 1987, becoming the first person of color to hold the post, a living symbol of expanding opportunities for Black cadets and officers. He was promoted to Major General and placed in command of the 25th Infantry Division in 1989. After retiring in 1996, Gorden became an advocate for Black military history, successfully leading the effort to raise a monument to the Buffalo Solider detachment at West Point.
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VINCENT K. BROOKS PHOTOGRAPHS
General (Retired) Vincent K. Brooks, class of 1980, had an exceptional career that represents, in part, the expansion of opportunities for African Americans at West Point and beyond in the late-20th century. He is pictured in this exhibit as the First Captain of the Corps of Cadets from 1979-1980, the first Black cadet to earn that position. Clips from his oral history interview—included later in this exhibit—discuss his experiences as First Captain. After graduation, Brooks rendered long and exemplary service, ultimately retiring as a four-star general in 2019 after having commanded United Nations Command and U.S. Forces – Korea and two different Army Service Component Commands, among other echelons and formations.
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THE WEST POINT GOSPEL CHOIR ARTIFACTS
The West Point Gospel Choir began as a satellite group of the Cadet Chapel Choir in 1974, and like the Contemporary Affairs Seminar, became a haven for a growing community of Black cadets. The Cadet Gospel Choir represents the diverse voices of the Corps of Cadets while uniting talent, religion, and inspiration. Since its origins, the Cadet Gospel Choir has performed at numerous events for organizations. See the poster above for such an event as The Gospel for Life Choir Concert held at the historic Apollo Theatre on April 20, 1991, where the West Point Gospel Choir sang. The tambourine, also displayed, was a mainstay of the choir. It creates a midrange pitch and is used for various reasons, including praise, joy, triumph, and celebration.
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EMILY PEREZ ARTIFACTS
Emily Perez excelled as a cadet at West Point. She was the first Black woman to achieve the rank of Cadet Sergeant Major. Following graduation, Second Lieutenant Perez deployed to Iraq with the 204th Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division.
On 12 September 2006, her vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb near Najaf. Emily Perez became the first Black female United States Army Officer to be killed in action.
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