LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) -- The Kentucky Center for African American Heritage (KCAAH) unveiled a new plaque in honor of Col. Charles Young, who served in the U.S. Army as the first black American to rise to the rank of colonel.
"The Army tried to say he was too sick to serve and to show them he wasn't, he rode his horse 500 miles to Washington, D.C.," Lt. Gov. Jenean Hampton, R.-Kentucky, said. "I couldn't ride a horse 10 miles."
That was just one of the several stories shared about Young during Sunday's ceremony to honor the soldier, almost a century after his death in 1922.
"Black military history, the subject itself has not received the recognition that it should within the context of American history," Charles Blatcher III, the chairman of the National Coalition of Black Veteran Organizations, said.
It's for that reason why the KCAAH is honoring Young now, by unveiling a new plaque and raising a 9th Cavalry Flag, which Young was a part of. The ceremony was also conducted in partnership with The National Coalition of Black Veteran Organizations.
Young was born in Maysville, Kentucky, as a slave. His family would escape to Ohio and he would ultimately become the third African-American graduate of West Point Military Academy.
"He graduated from West Point in the 1800s and I can only imagine the vitriol that he faced," Hampton said. "But he persevered."
It was that perseverance that led him to an illustrious military career, which aside from becoming the first African-American to become a colonel in the U.S. Army, he was also the first African-American military attache and the first black national park superintendent.
"He wanted to be part of something that was bigger than himself and he was, and he served is nation honorably," Hampton said. "And he should have been treated better, but he didn't let that stop him."
"It means a lot to black Ameriacns," Blatcher said. "It should mean a lot to Americans in general because it does show our commonality in the defense of this nation."
The NCBVO and KHAAC are also pushing for the state of Kentucky to award Young the honorary promotion to brigadier general in the state militia, with the goal of eventually getting Young that recognition on a national stage.
