Benjamin O. Davis Sr.: Difference between revisions

 

==Early life and education==

 

Davis attended [[M Street High School]] in Washington, where he played baseball and football, and was captain of the football team.{{sfn|Fletcher|page=10}} He also participated in the cadet program, in which city high schools organized military units that competed against each other in marksmanship, drill and ceremony, and other soldier skills.<ref>{{cite news |date=June 23, 1898 |title=They Enter Active Life: A Host Of Colored Graduates Bid Farewell To School Days |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109204418/active/ |work=[[The Washington Times|The Times]] |location=Washington, DC |page=8 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref><ref name="Colored">{{cite news |date=October 20, 1897 |title=The Colored Cadets: Roster of Officers For Ensuing Year Announced Yesterday |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109203947/cadets/ |work=[[The Washington Star|The Evening Star]] |location=Washington, DC |page=7 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> Davis attained the rank of captain as commander of Cadet Company B.<ref name="Colored"/>{{efn|Some later sources incorrectly indicate Davis was a cadet major,<ref>{{cite news |date=March 22, 1901 |title=Colored Soldier Rises to Second Lieutenancy |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/121464902/rises/ |work=[[The San Francisco Call]] |location=San Francisco, CA |page=2 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> but contemporary sources all indicate that he was a cadet captain.<ref name="HighSchool">{{cite news |date=October 23, 1897 |title=The High School Cadets |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/121465031/high-school/ |work=The Washington Bee |location=Washington, DC |page=5 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> The cadet major in command of his battalion was William O. Davis, which may be the source of the error.<ref name="HighSchool"/>}} During his senior year of high school he took courses at [[Howard University]] and played on the school's [[Gridiron football|football]] team.{{sfn|Fletcher|page=11}}<ref>{{cite book |date=1942 |title=Current Biography: Who's News and Why |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bLSDTRdhgKMC&q=%22From+1897+to+1898+he+attended+Howard+University+and+on+July+13+,+1898%22 |location=Bronx, NY |publisher=H.W. Wilson Company |page=180 |isbn=9780824204792 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |editor-last=Johnson |editor-first=John H. |editor-link=John H. Johnson |date=December 23, 1954 |title=Sports: Pigskin Club Honors Grid Greats In D.C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZLIDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA51 |magazine=Jet |location=Chicago, IL |publisher=Johnson Publishing Company |page=51 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> His father, a messenger for the [[United States Department of the Interior|Interior Department]], and his mother, a nurse, urged him to enroll in college after high school.{{sfn|Fletcher|page=11}}