THOMASVILLE — West Point cadets learning about civil rights made a stop at Thomasville’s Flipper Cemetery to pay their respects to the U.S. Military Academy’s first African American graduate, and Thomasville native, Lt. Henry O. Flipper.

The cadets are undergoing their academic individual advanced development courses this summer and the “yearlings” who came to Thomasville were part of the Civil Rights Staff Ride, a two-week experience through the South to learn about the civil rights movement.

Flipper graduated from West Point in 1877 and was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Army.

Bill Raiford, a Thomasville native and 1952 graduate of West Point, detailed the history of Lt. Flipper and the efforts to re-inter Flipper’s remains in his hometown. Flipper had been buried in Atlanta.

“Several years ago, we located the remains of Henry Flipper in Atlanta and several of us decided he needed to come home,” Raiford said. 

Raiford pointed out to the cadets that Lt. Flipper was one of six children, all highly educated and all distinguished in their own right. His own connection with Lt. Flipper began when he was a boy.

“Having been raised here in Thomasville, when I was 9 years old, my father introduced me to Henry Flipper’s youngest brother Festus,” Raiford said.

The cadets also visited the Jack Hadley Black History Museum as part of their Thomasville stop.