In the 1870s, Henry Ossian Flipper became the first African American to graduate from West Point. But he later fell victim to racial prejudice and was dishonorably discharged from the Army for conducting unbecoming on trumped-charges of embezzlement. He worked for decades to clear his name and was vindicated posthumously in 1976. President Clinton issued a pardon, restoring Flipper's honorable discharge, in 1999.