Henry Ossian Flipper

Henry Ossian Flipper was born into enslavement in Thomasville, Georgia in 1856. Just over twenty years later, he became the first African American to graduate from West Point.

His education path to West Point began in a wood shop of an enslaved man. Henry was eight then. His schooling continued at Missionary Schools and then at Atlanta University. However, his dream was to attend West Point.

No African American had ever graduated from West Point. But this didn't deter Henry. He wrote James C. Freeman, a state Congressman, asking to be appointed to West Point.

After the two exchanged letters, the Congressman appointed Henry.

Henry joined four other African Americans at West Point. And of the group, he became the first to graduate, a member of the Class of 1877.

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Sources: Portrait of Henry taken circa 1877 as a West Point cadet / Wikimedia Commons