January 7, 1941 Frederick Drew Gregory, the first African American to pilot a space shuttle, was born in Washington, D. C. Gregory earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Air Force Academy in 1964 and was a decorated helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War.
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Percy Ellis Sutton – December 26th in African American History
December 26, 2009 Percy Ellis Sutton, lawyer, civil rights activist and political and business leader, died. Sutton was born November 24, 1920 in San Antonio, Texas. During World War II, Sutton served as an intelligence officer with the Tuskegee Airmen. He attended Prairie View University, Tuskegee Institute, and Hampton Institute before earning his law degree […]
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Max Robinson – December 20th in African American History
December 20, 1988 Max Robinson, broadcast journalist, died. Robinson was born May 1, 1939 in Richmond, Virginia. He attended several colleges and briefly served in the United States Air Force before receiving a medical discharge. Robinson began his television career in 1959 in Portsmouth, Virginia where he had to read the news while hidden behind […]
Matthew Leonard – December 19th in African American History
December 19, 1968 President Lyndon B. Johnson presented the Medal of Honor, America’s highest military decoration, to the family of Matthew Leonard for his actions during the Vietnam War. Leonard was born November 26, 1929 in Eutaw, Alabama. He served in the United States Army during the Korean and Vietnam Wars. On February 28, 1967, […]
Colin Powell – August 10th in African American History
On August 10, 1989, Colin Powell became the first African-American nominated as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest-ranking position in the military. President George H.W. Bush chose General Powell to head the armed forces based on his stellar career as an army officer. Having an African American Chair of the Joint Chiefs […]
Joseph Rainey – June 21st in African American History
June 21, in 1832, Joseph Hayne Rainey was born a slave in the rice-growing region of Georgetown, South Carolina. 1832 was a tumultuous time for race relations in America. The Nat Turner Rebellion of August 1831, in which a slave preacher led a band of enslaved men on a killing spree in Virginia, still caused […]
Wesley A Brown – June 3rd in African American History
June 3rd, in 1949, Wesley A Brown graduated from the US Naval Academy, becoming the first African American to do so. The Annapolis Naval Academy had never, before this date, witnessed an African American succeed beyond the first academic year. Brown received his commission as a naval officer on this momentous occasion, joining one of […]