First Black Air Force General Benjamin O. Davis Jr.

By Don Valentine

      In the military annals, the mythical unicorn is a Black father-son Generals and it has only happened  once in U.S. history. The first Black Army General Benjamin O. Davis Sr. (Brigadier General 1940) and his son the first Black Air Force General (1998) are unicorns. General Davis Jr., made his father proud by attending West Point in 1932 and graduating in the top 12% in 1936. That made him the fourth Black cadet to graduate from West Point and the first in the 20th century.

General Davis Sr. sparked his son’s aviation passion by taking him on a barnstorming plane ride. As author Doug Melvile, their great grandnephew, described it for CNN, “..he comes down from that ride and goes: ‘Daddy, I want to be a pilot.’ And Ben Sr. said: ‘I will help you live your dream. ‘And that was when he started training Ben Davis Jr. to go through what it would take to graduate from West Point. Because of segregation, Ben Sr. knew that, unless it was through graduating at the top of West Point, his son would never get the opportunity to live his dream. So he sells the family house in Washington, D.C., relocates to Illinois, so he can get the signature of the only Black Congressman in the United States, Oscar De Priest Davis Jr. put his dream of becoming a pilot aside and chose to become a military officer by attending West Point. Securing a nomination was complicated. Rep. Oscar S. De Priest of Illinois, the first African American elected to Congress in the 20th century, was willing to nominate him but could only select a candidate from among his constituents. So, Davis Jr. moved alone to Chicago for nearly two years to secure the nomination and his spot at West Point.”

General Davis Sr. worked as head of Negro policy in the military for FDR. He advised FDR that he could get the Negro vote by inviting equal opportunity in the military and giving Negros a chance to fly airplanes. Mr. Melville told CNN, “when FDR asked Ben Sr., ‘Who would lead that if that was something that I decided to do?’ and Ben Sr. said, ‘My son.’ His son would then go down to Tuskegee, and that would be the start of the Tuskegee Airmen that we all know and are familiar with.”

General Davis Jr., with an enviable flight pilot resume was not given any commercial chances because of his color. In the 70’s he was Director of Civil Aviation Security, where he led the implementation of measures to counter aerial hijackings. In 1998, President Clinton promoted General Davis, Jr., to the rank of four star general, describing him during the ceremony as “a hero in war, a leader in peace, a pioneer for freedom, opportunity and basic human dignity.”