On October 27, 1954, Benjamin O. Davis Jr. became the first Black general officer in the United States Air Force when he was promoted to brigadier general. His achievement added another milestone to a remarkable family legacy: his father, Benjamin O. Davis Sr., had become the first Black general in the U.S. military in 1940.
During World War II, the younger Davis commanded the 332nd Fighter Group, whose “Red Tails” became famous for escorting American bombers over Europe. Part of the pioneering Tuskegee Airmen, these Black aviators built an outstanding combat record in a segregated military. In March 1945, Davis led the group on a 1,600-mile round-trip escort mission to Berlin, an operation that earned the unit a Distinguished Unit Citation. Their achievements challenged the racist assumptions used to deny Black Americans opportunities in military aviation.
Davis’s rise followed years of deliberate racial isolation. When he entered West Point in 1932 as its only Black cadet, his fellow cadets subjected him to a practice known as “silencing.” For four years, they spoke to him only as official duties required. He roomed alone and was excluded from the companionship other cadets shared. Yet he persevered, graduating in 1936 ranked 35th in a class of 276. Eighteen years later, the cadet others had tried to drive out of West Point became the Air Force’s first Black general.
