Charles Young was the third African-American graduate of the United States Military Academy (Class of 1889), the first black U.S. national park superintendent, first black man to achieve the rank of colonel in the United States Army, and highest-ranking black officer in the regular army until his death in 1922.

In the summer of 1974, the first brave women in-processed at a US Service Academy. The US Merchant Marine Academy was the 1st and only Service Academy to admit women before it became federal law.