Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. was born December 18, 1912 in Washington D.C. His father, Benjamin O. Davis, Sr. was one of the few African-American officers in the U.S. Army. Davis, Jr. was appointed to the U.S. Military Academy in 1932 by Rep. Oscar S. De Priest, the only black congressman at that time. At West Point he endured ostracism from both classmates and superiors who wanted to see him fail. He persevered and graduated 35th in a class of 276 in 1936. He was the fourth African-American graduate in the Academy's history. Upon commissioning he and his father became the only two black officers in the army. His application to the Army Air Corps was refused because the Air Corps did not accept African-Americans.

Davis was serving as an ROTC instructor at Tuskegee Institute in 1940 when President Franklin Roosevelt became worried about his support among the black community during his third presidential election campaign. To solidify African-American support he promoted......

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Title: Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.
Approximate Word Count: 564
Approximate Pages: 3 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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