Get Dr Charles Young

Today, I'd like to honor him and remember a man who overcame adversity and racism and became a leader of his time. Charles Young was born into slavery on March 12, 1864 to parents Gabriel and Arminta Young in Kentucky.

Ada Mills Young was Charles Young's wife. She was born on October 30, 1880. Ada and Charles were married on February 18, 1904, in Oakland, California. She traveled the world alongside her husband to his many duty stations.

An accomplished linguist, (he spoke Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, and German), Young was also assigned to Military Intelligence duties as one of the Army's early Military Attachés.

Young was the first Black national park superintendent, the first Black military attaché, the first Black colonel, and the highest-ranking Black person in the U.S. military until his death at age 57 from a kidney infection while on a reconnaissance mission in Nigeria.

Young was born to enslaved parents, Gabriel & Arminta Young, on March 12th, 1864 in May's Lick, Kentucky. That same year his father escaped enslavement and in February 1865 joined the 5th Regiment, U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery.

Charles E. Young, who led UCLA from 1968 through 1997, was the youngest chancellor appointed in the history of the University of California and the only UCLA alumnus to hold the campus's top position. His tenure, spanning four different decades, marked an enduring legacy.