Amy Spingarn letter to Colonel Charles Young, September 1918   Save
National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center
Description: Letter from Amy Spingarn, wife of Major Joel E. Spinarn, to Colonel Charles Young sharing Major Spingarn's contact information in France. Major Spingarn was a member of the NAACP, as well as the creator of the Spingarn Award. Young and Spingarn were friends for many years, and Major Spingarn was a speaker at Colonel Young's memorial service in 1923. Charles Young was the first African American to reach the rank of Colonel in the U.S. Army and, at the time of his death in 1922, was the highest-ranking African American officer in the Army. He is known for having been forced into retirement due to health concerns before the start of World War I and later riding from Wilberforce, Ohio, to Washington, D.C. to prove his physical fitness for duty. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: NAM_MSS2_B01F26_1
Subjects: African American soldiers; African American men; Awards; Military officers; Correspondence; Young, Charles, 1864-1922.; World War I, 1914-1918
Places: New York; Wilberforce (Ohio); Greene County (Ohio)