Hand tinted...a la pou pae... etching (22"X30"). The letter used in this etching is from an original letter sent to Colonel Young from his close friend W.E.B.Dubois in 1917. The letter addressed DuBois' concerns about Young's forced retirement from the United States Army.

The following is from Blacks and the Military by Jack Foner:

"In May 1917, the black community received the disturbing news that Colonel Charles Young, the only black West Point graduate on active duty and then holding the highest rank ever attained by a black officer in the U.S. Armed Forces, had been retired for medical reasons. Young was sixth in line for brigadier general and accelerated wartime promotion would have given him this rank. His examining board had already recommended him for promotion, but when he came before the medical board for physical examination he was pronounced unfit because of high blood pressure and ordered retired."