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At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

Flipper, Henry O. (fl. 1878) The Colored Cadet at West Point. Autobiography of Lieut. Henry Ossian Flipper...

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC06832 Author/Creator: Flipper, Henry O. (fl. 1878) Place Written: New York Type: Book Date: 1878 Pagination: 322 p. 18.9 x 13.6 cm Order a Copy

First edition printed by Homer Lee & Co. Flipper, while not the first African-American to attend West Point, was the first to graduate. He was assigned to the all-black 10th Cavalry Regiment. Accused of embezzling army funds at Fort Davis, Indian Territory, he was exonerated but convicted of lying in a court-martial and dishonorably discharged. Flipper kept trying to clear his name until his death in 1940, but it was not until 1976 when he was officially exonerated. On 19 February 1999 President Clinton pardoned Flipper. LCP Negro History no. 143, Brignano 76, Schomburg D81-528, Blockson collection 7869, Work p. 401.

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