Chautauqua 2005: Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. (Part 1)

J. Holmes Armstead, Jr. portrays Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. during Chautauqua 2005 on the Germantown campus of Montgomery College.

When United States Air Force Lieutenant General Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. retired from active military service in 1970, he could reflect on a remarkable career since taking the oath as a cadet on the Plain at West Point in 1932. He was the first African-American to graduate from West Point in the twentieth century; he was the first African-American to serve as a General's aide de camp in the Army; he was the first African-American to command fighter planes in a combat unit; and he was the first African-American to be an Air Force General officer.

In fact, Davis could claim so many firsts that one might relate his life as a litany of numbers, but such a list would belie the nature of the conflicts and struggles involving war and democracy during his life. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. was born on December 18, 1912 in Washington, DC to Benjamin and Elnora Davis. Davis's father was a career soldier who enlisted in the Army during the Spanish-American War, became one of only two black officers in the Army in 1901, and eventually rose to command an all-black Cavalry brigade.

Read more about Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. at http://www.mdhc.org/resources/chautauqua2005.pdf

Chautauqua (shuh-taw-kwa) takes its name from a lake in upstate New York, beginning in 1874 as a training course for Sunday School teachers. In 1878 the Chautauqua movement expanded its philosophy of adult education to include an appreciation for the arts and humanities. By 1904, Chautauqua took to the road as part of the Lyceum movement, bringing lectures and entertainers to towns across America. By 1930, radio, movies, and automobiles had made Chautau¬qua largely a thing of the past. Reborn as a public humanities program in 1976, today's Chautauquas feature scholars who take on the persona of celebrated historical figures, educating and entertaining audiences as they bring the past to life again. Families gather for our Chautauqua under starry skies in a big open tent.

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