Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.

Before WORLD WAR I, military service represented a source of black pride. Black educators, clergymen, and the press frequently referred to Negro heroes of America’s past wars. After the Civil War, the U.S, Army maintained four regular Negro regiments –the 9th and 10th Calvary and the 24th and 25th Infantry. These units included veterans of the civil war and the frontier Indian fighting regiments. Retired sergeants often became respected, conservative leaders in their communities. This history set a foundation for black support and involvement in America’s future wars.

he unprecedented support for the education of returning World War II veterans provided by the G.I. Bill was notably race-neutral in its statutory terms. More than 1 million black men had served in the military during World War II and these men shared in eligibility for educational benefits, which included tuition payments and a stipend for up to four years of college or other training. Yet, the effects of military service and the availability of educational benefits may have differed by race and geography as black men from the South returned to segregated systems of higher education, with relatively limited opportunities at historically black institutions.

Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr. recognized for being the first Black Air Force General, paved the way for the Black soldier. Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr. was born December 18, 1912, to Benjamin, Sr. and Elnora Dickerson Davis. Due to complications from childbirth, Elnora dies when Benjamin is four years old. His father Benjamin, Sr. the first Black General in the United States Army, serving in various capacities such as the Spanish-American War and the original Buffalo Soldier regiments was a pioneer for the black soldier and an influence to his son.

World War II is primarily known to be a war that established peace and equality throughout Nazi Germany and its allies. This war according to many, came to be known as the “good war”, but not to Ronald Takaki. One revisionist argument he makes about the “good war” was that it was not good or equal in any sense. In the first paragraph of Double Victory, Takaki argues that “The ‘Arsenal of Democracy’ was not democratic: defense jobs were not open to all regardless of race. The war against Nazi Germany was fought with a Jim Crow army” (5). Based on previous knowledge of WW2, history does not discuss the side of history where segregation and racism were also a present problem amongst the American people and on their own

Frederick DOuglass Patterson, a veterinary scientist and the head of the college’s School of Agriculture took over presidency at Tuskegee Institute. Patterson urged African Americans at Tuskegee to seek greater opportunities in vocational education. He emphasized better education in trades and programmatic acceptance of racial segregation. He wanted blacks to have access to the technologically advanced, high-paying jobs and prepare them for careers as pilots. He bettered aviation mechanics, air traffic controllers, and flight instructors.”By the end of the war, 992 men had graduated from Negro Air Corps pilot training at Tuskegee; 450 were sent overseas for combat assignment. During the same period, about 150 lost their lives while in training or on combat flights, and 32 were held as POWs by the Nazis.”

Stonewall began his career as an Army officer as a second lieutenant serving in an artillery regiment for the Mexican-American War from 1846-1848. During this time, Stonewall earned two field [brevet] promotions and a regular Army promotion to first lieutenant.2 It was also in Mexico that Stonewall first met Robert E. Lee, future commander of the Confederate Army. During the war, Stonewall displayed incredible strength of character by refusing to obey what he correctly identified as a “bad order.”2 In other events, he demonstrated his prowess in the strategic mind of the battlefield and earned another field promotion to Major. After the war, Army Commander Winfield Scott recognized Stonewall for earning more field promotions than any other officer throughout the Mexican-American War.3

Segregation of the black man in the army has remained unchanged since the civil war. The pre Word War II Army had separate living quarters, mess halls, and bathrooms for the “colored” soldiers. The black man was considered to be suited for jobs in the Army that were simple in nature, such as cooking

The use of African American manpower in war became substantial in the United States. To increase the sizes of the AAC they took the Army Corps 10th Cavalry and 25th Infantry and shrunk them and in doing this the flying corps became much larger. Then after this was done they took African Americans and involved them in the flying corps instead of using them as housekeeping detachments but the War department did not have a plan to use African American troops in war (Moye, n.d.). The War department did not want to use African American troops because they did not have a defence against political and racial pressure (Moye, n.d.). Chauncey Spencer and Dale White flew from the Second City to Washington D.C., New York City and back to Chicago to show

Captain Benjamin O. Davis was in fact the first African American to serve as a general in the United States Army. The Tuskegee Airmen were determined to rise above the racial barriers and break the Jim Crow’s segregation in the military, which enforced separate barracks, dining halls and even opportunities. At one point in time, the airfield was segregated and the Tuskegee airman were treated badly. Their airmanship and piloting skills were extremely impressive, so much that they were respected by the bombers crews since they always felt that sense of security every time the Tuskegee airman would fly on missions alongside them. Even with their skills, The Tuskegee Airmen were given bad or second hand equipment.

Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., was born in Washington, D.C., on July 1, 1877. Davis attended M Street High School in Washington where he participated in the school's cadet program. During his senior year of high school, he took some classes at Howard University. His father, a messenger for the Interior Department, and his mother, a nurse, urged him to enroll in college after high school. He entered the military service on July 13, 1898, during the War with Spain as a temporary first lieutenant of the 8th United States Volunteer Infantry. He was mustered out on March 6, 1899, and on June 18, 1899, he enlisted as a private in Troop I, 9th Cavalry, of the Regular Army. He then served as corporal and squadron sergeant major, and on February 2, 1901, he was commissioned a second lieutenant of Cavalry in the Regular Army. Following many years of service, he became an adviser for the military on racial discrimination, pushing for full integration of the armed forces. He earned a Bronze Star Medal and Distinguished Service Medal. Davis spent much of his time teaching others as a professor of military science and tactics at Wilberforce University in Ohio and the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

Benjamin O. Davis Jr. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. was born on December 18, 1912 and died on July 4, 1902 in Washington, D.C. for both his death and birth. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. quote: “The courage, tenacity, and intelligence with which he conquered a problem incomparably more difficult than plebe year won for him the sincere admiration of his classmates, and his single-minded determination to continue in his chosen career cannot fail to inspire respect wherever fortune may lead him.” This quote explains how Benjamin was very intelligent and how he inspired many of his peers.

September 2, 1945. Discharged from the service in February 1946, he returned to Phoenix. In 1947 Ben began civil service employment as an avionics technician at Litchfield Park Navy Facility. When this facility closed in 1966, he joined the US Air Force Reserve at

Davis went to many different schools throughout his childhood and teenage years. He started school when he was eight and went to a boarding school at Saint Thomas College. Two years later he went to another boarding school called Jefferson College. Davis’s role model was his oldest brother, Joseph, who wanted him to have a good education and future. So in 1823 he continued his schooling and went to Transylvania University in Kentucky. A year later two important things happened, one great and the other tragic. Davis got into West Point, a military academy, but around the same time his father passed away. So this is when Joseph became even more important in his life, he encouraged Davis

My hero is Benjamin O Davis Jr he is my hero because, he was in the air force and being in the air force shows a lot of courage and strength. He was born December 18,1912 and lived in Washington D.C. He was married to Agatha Davis. Benjamin O Davis Jr was given the Distinguished Flying Cross and Silver Star .General Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. was one of the early Black graduates of the U.S. Military School at West Point in 1932.

Before World War II, African Americans were banned from joining the United States Air Force. An initiative known as the “Tuskegee Experiment” trained the first ever African-American Air Force pilots. The elite and selected few to complete the program became known as the Tuskegee Airmen (“Tuskegee”). These Airmen fought battles on both fronts: Europe and back home, facing adversity in the form of racial discrimination in a divided United States. In the 1940s, white Americans continued to ridicule and undermine their African American counterparts, especially in the military. The Tuskegee Airmen served as an inspiration for civil rights because they proved the intelligence of African Americans, received little recognition during their time, and