Henry Ossian Flipper
2023-02-01 - 2023-03-01 | Customs House, 6 Burruel, Tubac, AZ, 85646, United States
The Tubac Historical Society is celebrating Black History Month, February 1 to March 1, 2023, by honoring Henry Ossian Flipper who was born into slavery in 1856, was the first black graduate from West Point Military Academy in 1877, and by 1881 was falsely accused of embezzling government funds and stripped of his military status.
Undeterred by this, he reinvented himself and went on to forge a career as an engineer, Spanish translator, Justice Department special agent, inventor, author, historian and newspaper editor.
He spent much of the 1880s and 1890s in Nogales, Arizona, where he examined and adjudicated thousands of early land grants. He became a highly respected citizen of Nogales.
In spite of facing continual racism and unfair accusations throughout his life, he embodied a perfect example of 2023’s Black History Month theme of “Black Resistance.”
Come see our exhibit about Henry O. Flipper at our Visitor Center, 6 Burruel Street.
