West Point Cadet, Once Shunned, Now Being Honored

Benjamin Davis Jr. entered West Point in 1932 as its only black cadet and spent the next four years shunned. He roomed alone and ate alone. The future Tuskegee Airman and trailblazing Air Force general later recalled he was “an invisible man.”

Now more than a decade after his death, the academy that ostracized Davis is honoring him.

A new cadet barracks being constructed among the fortress-like stone buildings of the U.S. Military Academy will be named for Davis. It’s a rare privilege granted to graduates with names like MacArthur and Eisenhower. Officials at the academy say Davis was a natural choice that also gives the academy a chance to belatedly do right by Davis.

Davis Barracks is expected to house cadets in January 2017.