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 (1932-2021)
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- )
Charles Edward Anderson, meteorologist, Air Force officer, and weather officer, was born August 13, 1919 in the inner suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri on a farm in University City. Both his mother and father were from Mississippi. Anderson resided in St. Louis until he graduated the valedictorian of the Sumner High … Read MoreCharles Edward Anderson (1919-1994)
Image Ownership: Public domain Joseph Neal, the first African American elected to the Nevada state senate, was born in Mounds, Louisiana on July 28, 1935. He attended Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and graduated in 1963 with a B.A. in political science and history as well as doing postgraduate work in law. He … Read MoreJoseph (Joe) Neal (1935- )
Lieutenant General William E. Brown, Jr. is a former United States Air Force pilot, former commander of Allied Air Forces Southern Europe and former deputy commander of U.S. Air Forces in Southern Europe. Brown ended his military career with over 5,100 flying hours, the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of … Read MoreWilliam E. Brown, Jr. (1927- )
Born January 17, 1942 in Columbus, Georgia, Albert J. Edmonds was a career officer in the United States Air Force who eventually achieved the rank of Lieutenant General. Edmonds graduated from Spencer High School in Columbus and then earned a bachelor’s degree n chemistry from Morris Brown College in 1964 … Read MoreAlbert J. Edmonds (1942- )
Air Force General Lester Lyles was born on April 20, 1946, in Washington, D.C. He attended public schools in the District and then in 1968, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Howard University. While at Howard he joined the Air Force ROTC program and upon graduation in … Read MoreLester Lyles (1946- )
Bernard P. Randolph, career Air Force officer, was born on July 10, 1933 to Phillip J. Randolph and Claudia Randolph, in New Orleans, Louisiana. He attended Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry in 1954. In 1964, he earned a Bachelor … Read MoreBernard Peter Randolph (1933- )
