Charles Young was the third African-American graduate of West Point, the first Black U.S. national park superintendent, first Black military attache, first Black man to achieve the rank of colonel, and highest-ranking Black officer in the Regular Army until his death in 1922.
Young was born in 1864 into slavery to Gabriel Young and Arminta Bruen in Mays Lick, Kentucky, a small village near Maysville. However, his father escaped from slavery early in 1865, crossing the Ohio River to Ripley, Ohio, and enlisting in the Fifth Regiment of Colored Artillery (Heavy) near the end of the American Civil War.
His service earned Gabriel and his wife their freedom, which was guaranteed by the 13th Amendment after the war. Arminta already knew how to read and write, which suggests she may have worked as a house slave before her freedom.
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Source: Wikipedia
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