the 119 women to enter the Academy in 1976, only 62 would continue on to graduation day in 1980 and of those only 2 were African American.

Priscilla Walker Locke and Joy Suzanne Dallas made history by becoming the first African American women to join the Long Gray Line.

Locke from Detroit, Michigan was the first African American woman to graduate by order of merit.

She first enlisted in the United States Army in 1974 as a communications specialist.

As a Private First Class she was encouraged by her commanding officer to apply to the Academy and was accepted to attend the United States Military Academy Preparatory School.

After graduation she served in the Air Defense Artillery Corps until retiring in 1995 as a Major. In 2015, Locke watched as her daughter Sara also graduated from West Point and received assignment in the United States Army Military Police Corps.

Dallas from Fairborn, Ohio was an active member of the United States Military Academy Cadet Gospel Choir. After graduation she served in the Air Defense Artillery Corps until retiring from the Army as a Lieutenant Colonel.