Browse Items (35 total)

Born into a military family, Michelle Howard graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1982, where she was one of only seven African American women. During Operation Desert Storm (1990-1991), she served aboard the USS "Mount Hood" as chief…

Lieutenant General Nadja West became the first African American appointed Army Surgeon General and the first African American woman to attain three-star general officer rank.

Lt. Florie E. Gant...tends a patient at a prisoner-of war hospital somewhere in England.

Lieutenant (junior grade) Harriet Ida Pickens, left, and Ensign Frances Wills, the first African-American WAVE officers to be commissioned. They were members of the final graduating class at the Naval Reserve Midshipmen's School (WR), Northampton,…

Navy nurse Joan Bynum became the first African American woman promoted to captain.

Born in Jamaica, Jeanine (McIntosh) Menze grew up watching airplanes fly into Kingston International Airport. Ignited early on with a deep love of flying, she earned various flying certifications while in college. After school, Menze applied for…

Lieutenant (junior grade) La’Shonda Holmes became the first African American woman Coast Guard helicopter pilot.

Army nurse Hazel W. Johnson became first African American woman brigadier (one-star) general and first African American Chief of the Army Nurse Corps.

Harriet Tubman seized her freedom from enslavement in Maryland in 1849. As a child, Tubman suffered physical abuse from her enslavers, including a severe head injury which caused lifelong health issues. Overhearing her enslaver discussing “selling…

Photograph of Gladys (Thomas) Anderson