Carolyn Crump, “The Game Changer”
Memorial Day is a special time to remember and honor the men and women who died while serving in the United States military. Charles Young (1864-1922) served a long and distinguished career in the Army and died from an illness while serving as a military attaché to Liberia.
Young was a “game changer” in achieving recognition for his service to his country, in spite of the obstacles he faced as African American. He obtained entrance to the United States Military Academy at West Point and was only the third African American to graduate from West Point. Carolyn Crump has written “Young loved his country and was the first Black U.S. national park superintendent, first Black military attaché, first Black man to achieve the rank of colonel in the United States Army.” Crump’s quilt focuses on early years of his military service with some additional biographical references. She included Bear Paw quilt blocks at the lower edge as a symbol for the fact that Young was born into slavery in 1864. After graduation from West Point, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant and assigned to the 9th Cavalry, an all black regiment. (Black officers could not command units of white soldiers.) An early station was Fort Duchesne, Utah, a wild and isolated post, indicated by the mountain lion. An important task was to keep peace between the white settlers and the Ute Indians, original inhabitants of the lands that became states of Colorado and Utah. Young was a skilled mapmaker, and Crump reproduced one of his maps as an element of the quilt. By 1901, Charles Young was promoted to the rank of captain. Because of his service, he was posthumously awarded the rank of Brigadier General.
To learn more about the extraordinary life of Charles Young, see https://www.nps.gov/chyo/learn/historyculture/charles-young.htm
FEATURED IMAGE: Carolyn Crump (born 1960), “The Game Changer,” 2018, Cotton fabric, cotton batting; printed, machine appliquéd and quilted, 40 × 36 1/4 inches, Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas, Purchase of the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation, 2024, 2024.2.1, © Carolyn Crump.