Wilfred DeFour was an aircraft technician and member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African American pilots and support personnel who were in the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II. DeFour was born on April 12, 1918 in Colon, Panama to … Read MoreWilfred DeFour (1918-2018)
Retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Merryl Tengesdal is the first African American female U-2 pilot in history and is the first African American woman to fly the Air Force’s U-2 Dragon Lady Spy Plane. She is the only black woman alongside five white women and … Read MoreColonel Merryl Tengesdal (1971- )
Stayce D. Harris is the first African American woman to hold a three-star General rank, first Air Force Reservist to be promoted to the three-star rank other than the chief of the Air Force Reserve Command, and the first African American woman to serve as … Read MoreStayce D. Harris (1959- )
Tuskegee Airman Jack Daniels Holsclaw was born in Spokane, Washington, on March 21, 1918. His father, Charles, was a clerk in a downtown store, and his mother, Nell, was a manager at Pacific Telephone and Telegraph. Holsclaw attended North Central High School in Spokane, where … Read MoreJack Daniels Holsclaw (1918-1998)
Fred Vann Cherry was the highest-ranking African American POW during the Vietnam War to receive the Air Force Cross, the second-highest military recognition. Cherry was born on March 24, 1928 in Suffolk, Virginia to John Cherry, an impoverished farmer and occasional laborer, and Leolia Cherry. … Read MoreFred Vann Cherry Sr. (1928-2016)
Jackson L. Davis III, M.D., is a retired Brigadier General in the Air National Guard. In his last assignment he was assistant to the command surgeon, Air Mobility Command, at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois from October 1996 to November 2000. He also served as the senior medical … Read MoreJackson L. Davis III (1944- )
Actor and director Melvin Van Peebles was born on August 21, 1932 in Chicago, Illinois to parents Edwin Griffin and Marion Peebles. He grew up in suburban Phoenix, Illinois, where his father worked as a tailor and graduated from Thornton Township High School in 1949. Van Peebles spent a … Read MoreMelvin Van Peebles (1932- )
Henry Ell Frye is the first African American Assistant United States District Attorney, the first African American elected to the North Carolina General Assembly in the twentieth century, and the first African American Chief Justice for the North Carolina Supreme Court. Frye was born on August 1, 1932 in Ellerbe, … Read MoreHenry Ell Frye (1932- )
Lieutenant General Russell C. Davis is a former Chief of the National Guard Bureau in Arlington, Virginia. He served as Chief from 1998 to 2002. Davis’ great-great grandfather also helped raise money to found Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) and worked closely with Booker T. Washington. After retirement, … Read MoreRussell C. Davis (1938- )
Retired Lt. General John D. Hopper was born in Clarksville, Tennessee in 1947. He attended Lyndon McKinley high school in Columbus, Ohio and entered the Air ForceAcademy in 1965. In high school, Hopper was an avid high school athlete, involved in basketball and track, but at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, he … Read MoreJohn D. Hopper (1947- )
