Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., in full Benjamin Oliver Davis, Jr., (born December 18, 1912, Washington, D.C., U.S.—died July 4, 2002, Washington, D.C.), pilot, officer, and administrator who became the first African American general in the U.S. Air Force. His father, Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., was the first African American to become a general in any branch of the U.S. military. Davis studied at the University of Chicago before entering the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1932. After graduating in 1936 he was commissioned in the infantry and in 1941 was among the first group of