THE COLORED CADET AT WEST POINT. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LIET. HENRY OSSIAN FLIPPER….
Salem, NH: Ayer Company, 1986. xi,322pp. Frontis. portrait. Introduction by Sara Dunlap Jackson, National Archives. Green buckram with the title on spine in black ink. Facsimile reprint of the rare 1878 original. Fine copy (no dust jacket issued). Henry Ossian Flipper, the first African-American to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy, was born in 1856 at Thomasville, Georgia, the son of slaves. Flipper’s autobiography was published in 1878 four years before the series of events that led to his dismissal from the Army. It is a chronological description of his family’s history, his birth and education, and years spent at West Point. He painstakingly describes course requirements and rules and regulations for each year of his education at West Point. Throughout the book, Flipper reprints contemporary newspaper and magazine articles about his presence and performance at the Academy, often commenting on their validity, or lack thereof.