President Obama has designated the Western Ohio home of Colonel Charles Young as a national monument. The Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument will be managed by the National Park Service. Doctor Floyd Thomas with the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center says Young was born a slave, but was freed and eventually graduated from West Point, becoming the first black man to reach the rank of colonel in the U-S Army. During his more than 30-year military career, Young led the legendary Buffalo Soldiers. He also became head of the National Park Service in 1903 and later a professor at Wilberforce University. Young's home is located on U-S Route 42, between Wilberforce and Xenia, and is believed to be an original stop on the Underground Railroad. Thomas says historians and community leaders have worked for years to make the designation happen.