Colonel Charles Young Triangle

Colonel Charles Young Triangle is a landscaped triangular park at the intersection of Seventh Avenue and Macombs Place at West 153rd Street in Harlem. The park is named for Colonel Charles Young, one of the most distinguished African American military officers in United States history and the third Black graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Young graduated from West Point in 1889, overcoming intense racial hostility from fellow cadets. He went on to serve with distinction in the Spanish-American War, the Philippine Insurrection, and the Punitive Expedition into Mexico. He was the first African American to achieve the rank of Colonel in the U.S. Army, and many historians believe he was denied promotion to General solely because of his race.

Young also served as a military attache to Haiti and Liberia and was superintendent of Sequoia and General Grant National Parks in 1903, making him the first African American superintendent of a national park. His residence in Harlem at the time of his death in 1922 connects him directly to this neighborhood.

The triangular park features plantings, benches, and a commemorative marker honoring Young's service. Its location in the heart of Harlem, a neighborhood with deep connections to African American military history and civil rights, makes it a fitting memorial site.

Colonel Charles Young Triangle serves as a reminder that the fight for racial equality in America has been waged not only in courtrooms and on streets, but also on battlefields, where Black servicemembers repeatedly proved their valor while facing discrimination from the very institutions they served.