1877 â Henry Ossian Flipper, born a slave in Thomasville, Georgia, in 1856, is the first African American cadet to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Flipper, who was never spoken to by a white cadet during his four years at West Point, was appointed a second lieutenant in the all-African American 10th Cavalry, stationed at Fort Sill in Indian Territory. He was the first nonwhite officer to lead the buffalo soldiers of the 10th Cavalry. He was court-martialed and discharged from the Army (1882). His descendants applied for a review of Flipper’s court-martial which led to a pardon from President Bill Clinton (1999).
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