Celebrating Black History Month: Ruth Lucas, first African American woman to become a colonel in the US Air Force

 

Ruth Lucas, born November 28, 1920 in Stamford, Connecticut, became the first African American woman in the US Air Force to be promoted to colonel.  She graduated from the Tuskegee University in Alabama in 1942.

Shorly after, she enlisted in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) and was one of the first black women to attend the now Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia. She transfered from the Army to the Air Force in 1947.

She was stationed at an Air Force base in Tokyo in the 1950s where she taught English to Japanese students. She received a master's degree in educational psychology from Columbia University in 1957.  

When Lucas was promoted to colonel in 1968, she was a general education and counseling services assistant in the office of the deputy assistant secretary of defense for education at the Pentagon. She retired from the Air Force in 1970. 

She passed away in March 2013 in Washington, DC.

A Tribute to Ruth Lucas

Celebrating Black History Month: Carl Brashear, first African American US Navy Master Diver

 

Carl Brashear, born January 19, 1931 in Tonieville, Kentucky, enlisted in the US Navy in February 1948, four months before President Truman desegregated the US military.  He graduated from the US Navy Diving and Salvage School in 1954, becoming the first black man to attend and graduate from the school, and one of the first African American divers in the US Navy.

During his career, he worked retrieving 16,000 rounds of annumnition that feel off a barge with had broken in half and sunk.  He also worked on salvaging airplanes and recovering multiple dead bodies from the sea. 

He was achieved the rank of Chief Petty Officer in 1959, and worked in Guam for three years doing mostly demolition dives. 

In 1966, he was dispatched to find and recover a nuclear bomb lost off the coast of Palomares, Spain after two US Air Force aircraft collided during an aerial refueling maneuver. During the recovery operations in March 1966, an accident with a lifting cable and pipe crushed Brashears' left leg, but doctors were unable to save it.  His lower left leg was eventually amputated.

Brashear recovered and rehabilitated from the amputation for almost a year.  In March 1967, he was assigned to the Harbor Clearance Unit Two, Diving School and in april 1968, he became the first amputee diver to be recertified as a US Navy diver.  In 1970, he became the first African American master diver.

He retired from the Navy in April 1979 as a Master Chief Petty Officer.  He passed away  from respiratory and heart failure in July 2006 in Portsmouth, Virginia.

Interview with Carl Brashear

"Grand Budapest Hotel" wins 4 Academy Awards 2015

Grand Budapest Hotel won four Academy Awards at the annual ceremony held February 22, 2015. The film had received nine nominations, the same as Birdman or (the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).  Grand Budapest Hotel won Best Music (Original Source), Best Production Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Best Costume Design.

The film received nominations for Best Picture, Best Directing for Wes Anderson, Best Writing (Original Screenplay), Best Film Editing, and Best Cinematography. 

Grand Budapest Hotel wins Oscar for Production Design

Sting and Steely Dan win Grammys 2001

 

Sting won his 16th Grammy Award and Steely Dan won their very first at the annual ceremony held February 21, 2001. 

Sting won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for his song She Walks the Earth.

Steely Dan won Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for Two Against Nature. The album was awaarded Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.  They also won Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for Cousin Dupree.  

John Williams won Best Instrumental Composition for The Theme from Angela's Ashes.

The Foo Fighters won Best Short Form Music Video for Learn to Fly. They also won Best Rock Album for There is Nothing Left to Lose. 

Celebrating Black History Month: Olivia Hooker, first African American woman in the US Coast Guard

Olivia Hooker, born February 12, 1915 in Muskogee, Oklahoma, was the first black woman to enter the US Coast Guard.  Olivia was living with her parents and siblings during the Tulsa Race Riots in 1921.  Her family fled to Topeka, Kansas and then Columbus, Ohio. 

While she was at Ohio State University, she advocated for African American women to be admitted to the US Navy. She applied to the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES), but was rejected becauses she was black. She disputed the rejection and was accepted, but she had already decided to join the US Coast Guard.

Hooker reported in February 1945 and sent to basic training in Brooklyn, New York. She became a Coast Guard Women's Reserve (SPARS), being one of only five black women to enlist in the SPARS program.  After basic training, she was assignedd to the Separation Center  in Boston and earned the rank of Yeoman Third Class in the Coast Guard Women's Reserve.  In June 1946, the SPARS program was disbanded and Hooker earned the rank of Petty Officer 3rd Class.

After WWII, she obtained her PhD in clinical psychology and helped form the American Psychological Associatoin's Division 33: IDD/ASD to hep increase quality of life for individuals with IDD/ASD.

She passed away of natural causes in November 2018 at the age of 103.

Interview with Olivia Hooker

Celebrating Black History Month: Charles B. Hall, first African American to receive Distinguished Flying Cross

 

Charles "Buster" Hall, born August 25, 1920 in Brazil, Indiana, was the first African American combat pilot to be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He enlisted in the US Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet in 1941, and assigned to attend Advanced Flight Cadet Training at the Tuskegee Army Airfield in 1942. 

He graduated July 3, 1942, earning his wings and being commisssioned as a 2nd Lieutenant.  Hall was assigned to the 332nd Fighter Group's 99th Fighter Squadron.

During WWII, he flew 198 missions over North Africa, Italy, the Meditarranean, and Europe. On July 2, 1943, while on a riad on Castelvetrano Airfield in Sicily, Itlay, Hall shot down a German plane, making him the first African American combat fighter to shoot down an enemy aircraft.

For this action, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, making him the first black man to receive an award. He shot down two more enemy planes in January 1944 over Anzio, Italy. 

After the war, like many other African American WWII veteran pilots, he could not find a job with commercial airlines or commercial transport companies.  He moved to Oklahoma, where he became an insurance agent and in 1949, worked at Tinker Air Force Base until 1967, when he took a position at the Federal Aviation Administration in Oklahoma City.

He died on November 22, 1971

Interview with Charles Hall's son

Celebrating Black History Month: Tidye Pickett, first African American woman to participate in Summer Olympic Games

Tidye Pickett, born November 3, 1914 in Chicago, Illinois, was the first African American woman to represent the United States at the Olympic games.  She and Louise Stokes were chosen to participate in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.  

Pickett competed in the 100-m dash and won, placing her third in the semi-finals. She qualified for the final, and placed sixth.  

Pickett and Stokes were selected to be in the 4x100 relay, but were left out of the finals.  It seems racism played a role in the omission from the games, but the ruling remains disputed. 

After the Olympics, Pickett became a school teacher and served as principal at an elementary school in East Chicago Heights, until her retirement in 1980.  She passed away in November 1986.

A brief history of Tidye Pickett