21st Century: Today's Experiences

General Darryl A. Williams walking the Corps of Cadets, 2019

Graduation Hug, 2015

Cultural Affairs Seminar, 2022

Hannah Blakey, Rhodes Scholar, 2022

Cadet Jahryca McClean with the 2021 Thayer Award recipient Mae Menison 

Record Number of Black Female Cadets Graduate from the U.S. Military Academy in 2019

Black experiences of West Point today are defined more by inclusion, diversity, and opportunity than by the exclusion and intolerance that characterized so many experiences between the Revolution and the late-20^th century. Momentum generated in the 20^th century continues into the 21^st.

A growing and thriving Black community at West Point in the late-20^th century helped to lay a foundation that created an environment which produced more mentors and role models for those who followed in the 21^st century. The groups and support networks that supported Black cadets in the late-20^th century are still a part of West Point today, as are new groups and networks like Do More Together, an Association of Graduates group focusing on Black/African American graduates and cadets, and a local chapter of the National Society for Black Engineers, and amoung others.

Perhaps more importantly, Black cadets today see themselves represented in the staff and faculty, the wider officer corps, and in the highest echelons of the Academy and Army. This allows young Black women and men to perceive paths and possibilities too long foreclosed to generations that preceded them, and to enjoy the support of an institution that continues to adapt to ensure that its cadets are acknowledged and accepted for their performance and abilities rather than any other factor. 

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