Johnson Chesnut Whittaker (August 23, 1858 – January 14, 1931) was one of the first black men to win an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. When at the academy, he was brutally assaulted and then expelled after being falsely accused and convicted of faking the incident. He studied privately with Richard Greener, the first African American to graduate from Harvard College. Greener would later defend Whittaker at his court-martial. After studying with Greener, Whittaker attended the University of South Carolina, then a freedmen's school. For most of his time at West Point, he was the only black cadet, and he was ostracized by his white peers. After more than a year of nationally publicized hearings, Whittaker was found guilty in an 1881 court martial of staging the attack, and expelled from West Point. about Whittaker by John Marszalek, a historian at Mississippi State University, drew attention to his case.

Matter of Honor, a stage play by Michael Chepiga retelling Whittaker's story while at West Point, was produced at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California, in September 2007.

See also

  • James Webster Smith, first African American to attend West Point
  • Henry Ossian Flipper, first African American to graduate from West Point, Class of 1877
  • List of African-American pioneers in desegregation of higher education

References

Further reading

  • Marszalek, John. Assault at West Point: The Court Martial of Johnson Whittaker. Touchstone (1994).