A2J

1922: A U.S. Army colonel passed away from kidney failure in Lagos, Nigeria: Charles Young, the first Black man to reach colonel rank in the United States Army, died on Nigerian soil. Who exactly was he? He was born in 1864 in Mays Lick, Kentucky, the child of ex-slaves. He graduated from West Point in 1889 as the third Black American to do so, and later became the first Black colonel in the U.S. Army. He was a Buffalo Soldier, saw combat in the Philippines and in Mexico, and remained the most senior Black officer in the American Army right up until he passed. He also holds the distinction of being the first Black American military attaché, and the first Black superintendent of a national park, Sequoia. The Army repeatedly attempted to force him out purely because of his race. What took place in Nigeria? Towards the end of 1921, while working as military attaché to Liberia, he was dispatched on a fact finding tour of Colonial Nigeria. He fell gravely ill during that trip. On January 8, 1922, he passed away from a kidney infection at a British-run hospital in Lagos. Since his death occurred in a British hospital, British colonial regulations demanded his interment in Lagos, where his remains stayed for twelve months. British troops buried him with full military honours at Ikoyi Cemetery. Throughout that year, his widow and several prominent African Americans insisted his remains be returned to the United States for an appropriate military interment. A little over a year after he died, his coffin was exhumed and transported by sea to New York, where crowds gave him a heroes reception. On June 1, 1923, he was laid to rest again at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honours. He became only the fourth soldier to be honoured with a service at Arlington Memorial Amphitheater, and his longtime friend W.E.B. DuBois delivered the eulogy.