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CLASS OF 1936
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Davis was West Point’s fourth African American graduate and the first in the 20th century.
Like the others, he endured four years of racial prejudice. In the Cadet Chapel two weeks after
graduation he married Agatha Scott, his much-needed support in the coming years of struggle
against racial discrimination within and beyond the military community.
Ordered to Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, for segregated flight training in World War II,
Davis completed the course and took command of the all-black 99th Pursuit Squadron,
the famous Tuskegee Airmen. He emerged from the war a much decorated colonel.
Military segregation ended by presidential order in 1949.
In 1954 Davis became the air force’s first black general, just as his father earlier had been the army’s first.
He retired in 1970 as lieutenant general. In a 1998 ceremony at the White House,
President Clinton awarded the 86-year-old Davis his fourth star.
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