WEST POINT, N.Y. — The U.S. Military Academy has opened a new barracks named after a graduate who was shunned by fellow cadets at West Point because he was black.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Friday for the Davis Barracks, named after Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. It was attended by academy and Army officials and a nephew of Davis’ from Waterbury, Connecticut.
Davis was West Point’s only black cadet when he arrived in 1932. He lived alone and no cadets spoke to him unless it was necessary. He graduated in 1936.
Davis became an Army Air Forces pilot and led a fighter group of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II. He joined the Air Force when it became a separate service in 1947 and was its first black general.
Davis died in 2002.
