CR299
Jet Magazine
March 5, 1959
Benjamin O. Davis Jr. Cover Story
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Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr. (December 18, 1912 – July 4, 2002)
Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr. was born in Washington D.C. After high school he attended the University of Chicago and then went on to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point and became the academy's 4th black graduate. When Davis originally applied to the Army air Corps he was rejected because of his race but in 1941 Roosevelt ordered the War Department to create a black flying unit and Davis was assigned to the first training class. Davis was a United States Air Force (USAF) general and commander of the World War II Tuskegee Airmen. He was the first African-American brigadier general in the USAF. On December 9, 1998, he was advanced to four-star general by President Bill Clinton. During World War II, Davis was commander of the 99th Fighter Squadron and the 332nd Fighter Group, which escorted bombers on air combat missions over Europe. Davis flew sixty missions and was one of the first African-American pilots to see combat. Davis followed in his father's footsteps in breaking racial barriers, as Benjamin O. Davis Sr. had been the first black brigadier general in the United States Army.
Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_O._Davis_Jr. And https://www.britannica.com/biography/Benjamin-O-Davis-Jr
Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr. was born in Washington D.C. After high school he attended the University of Chicago and then went on to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point and became the academy's 4th black graduate. When Davis originally applied to the Army air Corps he was rejected because of his race but in 1941 Roosevelt ordered the War Department to create a black flying unit and Davis was assigned to the first training class. Davis was a United States Air Force (USAF) general and commander of the World War II Tuskegee Airmen. He was the first African-American brigadier general in the USAF. On December 9, 1998, he was advanced to four-star general by President Bill Clinton. During World War II, Davis was commander of the 99th Fighter Squadron and the 332nd Fighter Group, which escorted bombers on air combat missions over Europe. Davis flew sixty missions and was one of the first African-American pilots to see combat. Davis followed in his father's footsteps in breaking racial barriers, as Benjamin O. Davis Sr. had been the first black brigadier general in the United States Army.
Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_O._Davis_Jr. And https://www.britannica.com/biography/Benjamin-O-Davis-Jr
