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 […]
Tag Archives | Tuskegee Airmen
Percy Ellis Sutton – December 26th in African American History
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November 29th in African American History – Coleman Alexander Young
November 29, 1997 Coleman Alexander Young, Detroit’s first African American Mayor, died. Young was born May 24, 1918 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He moved to Detroit in 1923 and graduated from Eastern High School. During World War II, he served in the 477th Medium-Bomber Group, Tuskegee Airmen, as a bombardier and navigator and played a role […]
July 18th in African American History – Willa Beatrice Brown Chappell
July 18, 1992 Willa Beatrice Brown Chappell, pioneering aviator, died. Chappell was born January 22, 1906 in Glasgow, Kentucky. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana Teachers College in 1927. Chappell started to take flying lessons in 1934 and earned her pilot’s license in 1937, making her the first African American woman licensed […]
July 4th in African American History – Benjamin Oliver Davis, Jr.
July 4, 2002 Benjamin Oliver Davis, Jr., commander of the World War II Tuskegee Airmen, died. Davis was born December 18, 1912 in Washington, D. C. After attending the University of Chicago, Davis entered the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1932. Despite shunning by his classmates, never having a roommate, and being […]
Percy Heath – April 28th in African American History
April 28, 2005 Percy Heath, jazz bassist, died. Heath was born April 30, 1923 in Wilmington, North Carolina but raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He started playing the violin and singing at the age of eight. Heath was drafted into the United States Army in 1944 and became a member of the Tuskegee Airmen. After World […]
October 21st in African American History – Charles Edward Anderson
October 21, 1994 Charles Edward Anderson, the first African American to receive a Ph.D. in Meteorology, died. Anderson was born August 13, 1919 in St. Louis, Missouri. He earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemistry from Lincoln University in 1941. After graduating, Anderson enlisted in the United States Air Force and was sent to […]
October 11th in African American History – Malvin Greston Mal Whitfield
October 11, 1924 Malvin Greston “Mal” Whitfield, track athlete and diplomat, was born in Bay City, Texas. In 1943, Whitfield joined the United States Army Air Force and became a member of the Tuskegee Airmen with whom he flew 27 combat missions during the Korean War. After World War II he enrolled at Ohio State […]