Charity Adams Earley December 5, 1918-January 13, 2002  Charity Adams Earley. U.S. Army Soldier and community activist, Lt. Col. Charity Adams Earley served as the highest-ranking Black woman officer during World War II. Her service during the war helped defeat the Axis Powers. But Earley also fought against segregation in the Army and helped open the doors of opportunity for African American women in the military. Faced by challenges all her life, Earley’s commitment to activism helped her better her life and the lives of others. Charity Adams Earley was born in Kitrell, North Carolina on Dec. 5, 1918. The oldest of four children, she grew up in a family of educators; her father was a minister and her mother a former teacher. Earley moved to South Carolina as a young girl and she considered the state home. Forced to navigate racial prejudice and discrimination, Earley faced these challenges with her intellectual skills that she gained from her mother’s instruction. She entered school as a second-grader and graduated high school two years early as valedictorian of her class. Earley chose to attend Wilberforce University, a historically Black school in Ohio. She majored in math, Latin, and physics. She was also active outside the classroom and participated in various student organizations and held a part-time job. After she graduated in 1938, she returned to South Carolina to teach. Over the next four years, she taught math and science to junior high students and took summer classes at The Ohio State University to get her masters. With the onset of World War II, the United States rapidly expanded their military forces. Formed in early 1942, the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps marked the beginning of a separate department which allowed women to serve in the Army. Later changed to Women’s Army Corps (WAC), the Army recruited talented women capable of performing non-combat roles. That spring, Adams applied for entry into the WAC, which the Army accepted. In July 1942, Earley reported to Fort Des Moines, Iowa to train with the first WAC officer class. There, she experienced the Army’s segregated policies for the first time. On the train ride to Fort Des Moines, she and the 39 other Black women of the class began to make friends with their white classmates. However, as soon as they stepped on to the fort, segregation was in full effect. Within 30 minutes of their arrival, the Army separated the Black and white candidates and sent them to different living units. Despite the segregated environment, Earley excelled. She graduated in August 1942, becoming the first Black officer of the WAC. She led the 3d Company, 3d Training Regiment, made up of two white and one Black platoon. Stationed in Fort Des Moines until 1944, she worked as a station control and staff training officer. The Army promoted her to major in 1943, making her the highest-ranking female officer at the fort and one of the highest-ranking WAC officers in the nation. In December 1944, Earley deployed to Europe leading the first Black WAC unit to serve overseas. The Army gave Earley command of the 6888th Central Postal Battalion. Stationed in Birmingham, England, they organized and sorted mail for delivery to U.S. Soldiers in the European Theatre. Despite segregated living conditions, her troops diligently worked around the clock seven days a week, working in three shifts, to ensure the delivery of millions of letters. Given six months to clear months of backlogged mail, the unit completed the job in half the time. The 6888th then moved to facilities in France to organize more undelivered mail to the European theatre. Earley served in Europe until late 1945. For her work in Europe with the 6668th, Earley received a promotion to lieutenant colonel, the highest possible rank for a Soldier in the WAC. After the war, she worked at the Pentagon for a short time before requesting a discharge in 1946. After her service, she returned to The Ohio State University and completed her master’s degree in vocational psychology. She married Stanley A. Earley, Jr. in 1949 and they settled down in Dayton, Ohio, where they raised two children. She devoted the rest of her life to education and activism, serving as a dean at Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial State College (now Tennessee State University), Georgia State University, and on many community business and organization boards. Additionally, in 1982, she founded the Black Leadership Development Program that focused on teaching young African Americans to be leaders in their communities. She died in 2002 in Dayton, Ohio. The National Postal Museum, National Women’s History Museum, Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame, Smithsonian Institute, South Carolina Black Hall of Fame, and many other organizations have recognized her dedicated service and work on promoting opportunities for Black Americans. Though she faced many challenges throughout her life, she never backed down and continued to fight to better herself and others. Earley helped pave the way for future African American women to serve in the Army. Anthony Eley Sources Botsch, Carol Sears. “Charity Adams Earley.” University of South Carolina Aiken. June 10, 2002. https://polisci.usca.edu/aasc/earley.htm. Collins, Elizabeth M. “Sorting the Mail, Blazing a Trail: African-American Women in World War II.” U.S. Department of Defense. February 13, 2017. https://www.defense.gov/Explore/News/Article/Article/1081817/sorting-the-mail-blazing-a-trail-african-american-women-in-world-war-ii/. Goldstein, Richard. “Charity Adams Earley, Black Pioneer in WACs, Dies at 83.” New York Times, January 22, 2002. https://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/22/us/charity-adams-earley-black-pioneer-in-wacs-dies-at-83.html. National Postal Museum. “The 6888th: Women Who Managed the Military’s Mail.” Accessed January 28, 2021. https://postalmuseum.si.edu/research-articles/the-history-and-experience-of-african-americans-in-america%E2%80%99s-postal-service Spring, Kelly. “Charity Adams Earley, 1918-2002.” National Women’s History Museum. 2017. www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/charity-earley. Additional Resources Classroom and Research Materials: Earley, Charity Adams. One Woman’s Army: A Black Officer Remembers the WAC. College Station, TX.: Texas A & M University Press, 1989. Young, Micheal. “African American Women in the Military during WWII.” Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum. Accessed May 11, 2021. https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/education/lesson-plans/african-american-women-military-during-wwii. Articles and Publications: Fisher, Christina Brown. “The Black Female Battalion That Stood Up to a White Male Army.” New York Times, June 17, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/17/magazine/6888th-battalion-charity-adams.html. Williams, Joseph. “Meet Charity Adams Earley, The Highest-Ranking African American Female Officer Of World War II.” All That is Interesting. January 9, 2020. https://allthatsinteresting.com/charity-adams-earley. Videos: “Terry Crews Narration of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion: American Valor 2019.” American Veterans Center. November 11,2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmLH1dlh7RE.
By Paul LaRue and Sarah Nestor; Edited by Katie Orr Colonel Charles Young was the highest-ranking African American Army officer when the United States entered World War I. You might assume Colonel Young would have been the logical choice to lead African American troops, but the Army ruled differently. He was one of 380,000 African American soldiers who served in the U.S. and overseas during the war. The Army denied him a leadership. African Americans around the nation shared his disappointment. Young and his supporters saw the Army’s decision as an example of discrimination. Charles Young was born in May's Lick, Kentucky in 1864. His parents, Gabriel and Arminta, were enslaved at the time, making him enslaved at birth. His father escaped in 1865 and enlisted in the Union Army. Gabriel Young served in the 5th United States Colored Heavy Artillery. The family moved to Ripley, Ohio, after the war. Ohio was already a free state before the Civil War. In fact, Ripley was a hub on the Underground Railroad. The town’s culture of activism and self-improvement influenced Charles Young as a boy. Young also grew up around horses and inherited his love for them from his father. His mother and grandmother could both read and write. This was not common among enslaved people. Their example encouraged Young to write and he was a good student. As a young man, Charles Young applied to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point after attending local schools. He became one of the first ten African Americans admitted to West Point. Young accepted a position as a second Lieutenant in the 9th Cavalry after graduation. In the 9th Cavalry, the Army separated him from white soldiers. The 9th Cavalry regiment was one of the famous regiments of African American troops known as the “Buffalo Soldiers.” According to folklore, the nickname comes from American Indians’ observations of the soldiers, who had darker hair and skin color than the white regiments. It was also a nod of respect to their strength and spirit as soldiers. They associated all of these traits with the American Buffalo. Young served in the 9th Cavalry from 1889-1907 and later in the 10th Cavalry. He led African American troops in Cuba, Haiti, the Philippines, Mexico, Africa, and in the western United States. Between periods of military service, Young sometimes left fighting to teach military science at Wilberforce University in Ohio. This school was founded before the Civil War and it is one of the oldest Historically Black Colleges and Universities. It was named in honor of an English anti-slavery activist named William Wilberforce. Colonel Young started teaching in 1894. As a teacher, he worked with other important African American thinkers and scholars like W.E.B. DuBois and Paul Laurence Dunbar. An activist and historian, DuBois included Colonel Young’s achievements in his writings about Black history. Dunbar was a poet and playwright, and Young composed music for Dunbar’s verses. Colonel Young married a woman named Ada Mills in 1904. She was from California. In 1907, Colonel and Mrs. Young bought a house near the university in Wilberforce. They called it “Youngsholm.” Ada lived here with their two children, Marie and Charles Noel. Their historic house was built around 1839 and was a “station” on the Underground Railroad. After teaching for several years, Colonel Young returned to lead Buffalo Soldiers in the western United States. He and his men guarded land that the United States claimed during the 1800s. This land was not settled by its citizens yet and much of it is part of the National Park Service today. In fact, Colonel Charles Young was the first African American superintendent of a National Park as an Army officer patrolling Sequoia National Park in California one summer. Under Young and other leaders, the Buffalo Soldiers were some of the first U.S. government employees to work in National Parks. They patrolled the land and built roads. Young also guarded the U.S. border with Mexico. He helped the Army fight the Mexican revolutionary leader Pancho Villa in 1916. European countries entered the First World War in 1914 and the United States waited until April 6, 1917 to declare war on Germany. When the U.S. did go to war, African Americans were eager to serve in the military. Many volunteered. However, in a nation divided by race, some people asked: who would lead the African American troops in Europe? Would the leaders be men of color or would they be white? At age 53, Colonel Young was the highest-ranking African American military officer in the United States at the time. He believed he should lead these soldiers and so did his supporters. Some powerful men in the Army did not think Young should lead. In June 1917, the Army promoted Charles Young to the rank of Colonel but declared that Colonel Young, was physically unqualified for leading troops in World War I. Colonel Young did not accept this. He believed it was his duty to lead troops in France. Colonel Young objected formally and sent documents to show he was healthy. From his home in Ohio, he tried to appeal to the senior officials in government and asked them to change their minds, but he could not persuade them with words. After a year of pleading, Colonel Young mounted his horse in Wilberforce on June 6, 1918, and began a difficult 16-day ride to Washington D.C. He rode horseback for 497 miles. He crossed through Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia in two weeks. Young completed his ride on June 22 when he arrived in the District of Columbia. He was tired and worn but healthy. In the capital, Young met with the Secretary of War, Newton Baker. The Secretary did not change his mind even after seeing proof that Young was able to command. Young was a trailblazer and hit one barrier he could not break. After a lifetime of bravery and leadership, after a great show of strength, Colonel Young still could not persuade the U.S. Army to give him a command in Europe. Colonel Young continued to serve in the Army despite discrimination and barriers to the positions he wanted. The Army assigned him to a unit in Liberia. Liberia is a country in Africa with ties to the United States. Americans founded it in 1847 to be a new home for free African Americans. Colonel Young died in Liberia on January 8, 1922 and the Army buried him in Arlington National Cemetery. This cemetery is located in Arlington, Virginia, right across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The United States reserves it for American soldiers and important individuals like presidents, senators, and diplomats. Colonel Young's ride showed his strength in patriotism and his ability to stand against the odds. He challenged people who were his superiors in rank and did it during a war. He challenged people who considered themselves superior to him because of race. He was an exceptional person in many ways, but he was not alone in this case. Many African American World War I soldiers dealt with racism in the Army. They also faced it when they returned home. Several African American World War I soldiers were lynched (murdered by a mob without a trial) after the war. This kind of terrorism was widespread in the United States after the war. In 1919, lynch mobs murdered 77 African Americans and legal segregation lasted for over forty more years. The conditions they faced during this era led up to the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Colonel Charles Young defended what he believed in. He served but he did not do it blindly. The story of his life reveals that someone can challenge unfair systems in government while still respecting their government. The United States honors him today by preserving his “Youngsholm” in Ohio. In 1979, the Secretary of Interior designated Colonel Young's family home in Wilberforce a National Historic Landmark. It is important because of its role in helping African American freedom seekers flee the South and because the Young family lived there. Today, it is a National Monument and cared for by the National Park Service on behalf of the American people. Questions for Reading 1: “The Life and Service of Colonel Charles Young”
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Who was the highest-ranking black officer in the u.s. army at the beginning of the first world war?
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