Davis, Benjamin O., Sr.

(1877–1970)

Brigadier General

Benjamin O. Davis, Sr. was the first African American to earn the rank of general in the U.S. military. Despite facing multiple barriers to advancement, Davis was a career military officer who consistently championed black equality and education for African American youth. His work not only influenced the military but also helped shape national public policy. Moreover, Davis's example of commitment and sacrifice encouraged generations of black soldiers and civilians.

Davis was born in Washington, D.C., on July 1, 1877. Because his father was a civil servant and his mother a nurse, Davis lived a middle-class life in segregated Washington. His mother hoped that he would become a minister, but Davis developed an early interest in the military from conversations with the father of one of his friends who was a Civil War veteran. The all-black 9th Cavalry, stationed adjacent to Washington in northern Virginia, also piqued his interest in a military career.

Benjamin was a student at the famous M Street School, an educational mecca for black Washingtonians. As he developed into an outstanding student-athlete, Davis joined the school's Cadet Corps. Davis was commissioned in the District of Columbia National Guard in 1898. Davis hoped to see combat in the Spanish–American War, but the Army kept him far from the front lines, a foreshadowing of both the great disappointments and great achievements that would make him famous.

Following his high school graduation in 1898, the Army made Davis a temporary first lieutenant in the newly formed 8th United States Volunteer Infantry, Company G. The Army stationed this unit in Chickamauga Park, Georgia, where Davis received his first bitter taste of life in America's Deep South. Davis combated the depressing effects of racism by preparing to become an officer in the regular Army. A year later, Davis was transferred to the unit of his childhood dreams, the 9th Cavalry, where he served as a private and, later, a corporal. Troop I of the 9th Cavalry was stationed in Ft. Duchesne, Utah, and in this western, rural isolation Davis continued to study and teach illiterate veteran soldiers to read and write. By 1900, the regular Army had only one African American officer—Lt. Charles Young of the 9th Cavalry. Nevertheless, Davis remained undaunted and used every available moment to prepare for the grueling officer's test.

In March 1901, Davis took the test, which included written sections on constitutional law, history, and mathematics, as well as physical and military drill requirements. After successfully completing the exam, Davis was discharged from the 9th Cavalry as an enlisted man, and then took his oath as a second lieutenant with the 10th Cavalry. Davis's success and persistence stood as a refutation of the racist assumptions of military leaders. In the years before World War I, Davis was posted in places as disparate as Arizona and Liberia, and even taught military science at Wilberforce University, a historically black institution in Ohio.

When the United States entered World War I, Davis was a lieutenant colonel but was sent to the Philippines. [Page 210]Despite the military's desperate need for experienced officers in France, Davis's white superiors were unwilling to place him in a position in which he either might command white soldiers or outrank a white officer. In letters he wrote home, Davis often described his frustrations with the racism that denied him opportunities taken for granted by others. After the war, Davis remained steadfast in his commitment to the military, training black soldiers throughout the state of Ohio and continuing to teach at both Wilberforce and Alabama's Tuskegee Institute. During the early 1930s, Davis assisted the famous pilgrimages of the Gold Star Mothers, women who traveled to Europe to visit the graves of their sons and husbands who were killed in World War I. Davis was the officer in charge of the commercial steamer that carried the contingents of black women to Europe—the trips were racially segregated—and accompanied the pilgrims on six of their journeys. Despite Davis's unswerving dedication, he would not command troops until 1937 when the Army placed him in charge of the legendary 369th Infantry Regiment. The next four years would change his life and, ultimately, change the Army.

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