Record number of black female cadets

The class of cadets preparing to jubilantly toss their caps in the air at the U.S. Military Academy’s graduation ceremony Saturday includes 34 black women, a record number that’s a sign of concerted efforts to diversify West Point’s Long Gray Line.

Section:Gallery

Thu., May 23, 2019

In this May 22, 2019 photo Briana Love, center, and fellow underclassmen prepare to drill at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. The class graduating on Saturday, May 25, will include 223 women, the largest number since the first female cadets graduated in 1980. It will include 117 African-Americans, more than double the number from 2013, and the largest number of Hispanics, 88.

Mark Lennihan Associated Press
In this May 7, 2019 photo, black female cadets with the Class of 2019 pose at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. The 34 women comprise a small slice of the roughly 1,000 cadets in the class. The cadets say they're proud to be part of a milestone at the historic academy after four years of testing their limits.

Hallie H. Pound Ap
In this May 22, 2019 photo, cadet Isabella Minter, center, marches with senior class members during Parade Day at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. The jubilant crowd of cadets tossing their caps in air at the graduation ceremony Saturday, May 25, will include a record-high 34 black women, a sign of concerted efforts to diversify the Long Gray Line.

Mark Lennihan Associated Press
In this May 22, 2019 photo, West Point Superintendent Lt. Gen. Darryl Williams, second from right, attends Parade Day at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. Walking with him is Don Carter, 94, from the class of 1944. West Point remains mostly white and mostly male.

Mark Lennihan Associated Press
In this May 22, 2019 photo members of the senior class march past a statue of George Washington during Parade Day at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. West Point boosted efforts to recruit women and blacks after being told to diversify in 2013 by then-Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno.

Mark Lennihan Associated Press
In this May 22, 2019 photo, senior cadet Stephanie Riley, of Jacksonville, Fla., walks across campus in West Point, N.Y. On Saturday, May 25, Riley will be among the graduates commissioned second lieutenants in the U.S. Army after an address by Vice President Mike Pence. She will go into the Signal Corps.

Mark Lennihan Associated Press
In this May 22, 2019 photo, Gabrielle Young, of Hopkins, South Carolina, poses at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. "I feel like in some ways that I do have to prove myself a little bit more, prove that I belong here. And even a classmate told me, I think our freshman year, that I only got in because I was a black female," said Young, one of the few in her class chosen for medical school.

Mark Lennihan Associated Press