Mar 01, 2012 - Sale 2271

Sale 2271 - Lot 413

Price Realized: $ 720
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
(MILITARY--WWII.) DAVIS, BENJAMIN O. Sr. General Davis with a group of his officers of the 369th National Guard Infantry at Fort Smith, New York. Sepia-toned photograph, 7-1/4 x 12-1/4 inches, mounted to a piece of heavy cardstock. Fort Smith, New York, 1938
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Benjamin O. Davis Sr. (1870-1977), military officer, educator, government official, and first African American general in the United States Army. He is pictured here with his first major command, the 369th Infantry National Guard Infantry Division. In 1942, he was also appointed to the Committee on Negro Troop Policies, where he investigated racial incidents and helped solve racial problems. Davis was instrumental in instituting a proposal to re-train African-American service troops as combat soldiers, changing the military's policies of segregation. For his work in combating segregation in the armed forces he was the recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal.