Roscoe Brown
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Roscoe Conkling Brown Jr. (March 9, 1922 – July 2, 2016) was one of the
Tuskegee Airmen The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of primarily African American military pilots (fighter and bomber) and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332d Fighter Group and the 477th Fighter Group, 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) of the ...
and a
squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, ...
commander of the
100th Fighter Squadron The 100th Fighter Squadron (100 FS) is a unit of the Alabama Air National Guard 187th Fighter Wing located at Dannelly Field, Alabama. The 100th is equipped with the General Dynamics F-16C+ Fighting Falcon. The 100th FS was one of the Tuskeg ...
of the 332nd Fighter Group.


Career

He was appointed to this position in June 1945, which was after
VE Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easter ...
(May 8, 1945). During combat, he served as a flight leader and operations officer only. He graduated from the Tuskegee Flight School on March 12, 1944 as member of class 44-C-SETuskegee University's Tuskegee Airmen Pilot Listing. Retrieved 2012-01-21
and served in the U.S. Army Air Forces in
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. During this period, on March 24, 1945 mission to Berlin Captain Brown shot down a
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
Me 262 The Messerschmitt Me 262, nicknamed ''Schwalbe'' (German: "Swallow") in fighter versions, or ''Sturmvogel'' (German: "Storm Bird") in fighter-bomber versions, is a fighter aircraft and fighter-bomber that was designed and produced by the German ...
jet fighter Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing aircraft, fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air supremacy, air superiority of the battlespace. Domination o ...
and several days later, on March 31, a
Fw 190 The Focke-Wulf Fw 190, nicknamed ''Würger'' ("Shrike") is a German single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank at Focke-Wulf in the late 1930s and widely used during World War II. Along with its well-known counterpart, t ...
fighter (he is credited as the first 15th Air Force pilot to shoot down a jet). He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Prior to his wartime service, he graduated from
Springfield College Springfield College is a private college in Springfield, Massachusetts. It confers undergraduate and graduate degrees. It is known as the birthplace of basketball because the sport was invented there in 1891 by Canadian-American instructor J ...
, Springfield, Massachusetts, where he was valedictorian of the Class of 1943. After the war, Brown resumed his education. His doctoral dissertation at
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...
was on exercise physiology. Brown became a professor at New York University and directed the NYU Institute of Afro-American Affairs (now the Institute of African American Affairs) in 1950. Brown hosted '' The Soul of Reason'', a radio talk show with interviewees which included politicians, professional athletes, medical professionals, and contemporary artists, which aired between 1971 and 1986. Brown also hosted ''Black Arts'' (1970–71) and
CUNY TV , mottoeng = The education of free people is the hope of Mankind , budget = $3.6 billion , established = , type = Public university system , chancellor = Fél ...
show ''African American Legends''. Brown was President of Bronx Community College from 1977 to 1993 and director for the Center for Education Policy at the
City University of New York The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven Upper divis ...
. Among his many distinguished awards, honors, and recognitions, he was elected into the National Academy of Kinesiology (née American Academy of Physical Education) in 1971 as an Associate Fellow. In 1992, Brown received an honorary doctor of humanics degree from his alma mater, Springfield College.


Personal

Brown was born in Washington, D.C. in 1922. His father, Roscoe C. Brown Sr. (1884–1963), was a dentist and an official in the United States Public Health Service who was born as George Brown and had changed his name to honor
Roscoe Conkling Roscoe Conkling (October 30, 1829April 18, 1888) was an American lawyer and Republican Party (United States), Republican politician who represented New York (state), New York in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Se ...
, a strong supporter of the rights of African Americans during
Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...
. His mother was the former Vivian Kemp, a teacher. On March 29, 2007, Brown attended a ceremony in the U.S. Capitol rotunda, where he and the other Tuskegee Airmen were collectively awarded the
Congressional Gold Medal The Congressional Gold Medal is an award bestowed by the United States Congress. It is Congress's highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions by individuals or institutions. The congressional pract ...
in recognition of their service. He was also a member and past president of the 100 Black Men of America New York Chapter. and professor of Urban Education at the
CUNY Graduate Center The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and post-graduate university in New York City. Serving as the principal doctorate-granting institution of the Ci ...
. Brown died on July 2, 2016 at
Montefiore Medical Center Montefiore Medical Center is a premier academic medical center and the primary teaching hospital of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York City. Its main campus, the Henry and Lucy Moses Division, is located in the Norwoo ...
in
the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
, N.Y. at the age of 94. He had resided in Riverdale in his latter years. His ashes were interred at
Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...
on what would have been his 95th birthday, March 9, 2017.


See also

*
Executive Order 9981 Executive Order 9981 was issued on July 26, 1948, by President Harry S. Truman. This executive order abolished discrimination "on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin" in the United States Armed Forces, and led to the re-integra ...
*
List of Tuskegee Airmen List of Tuskegee Airmen contains the names of the Tuskegee Airmen, who were a group of primarily African-American military pilots (fighter and bomber) and airmen who fought in World War II. The name also applies to the navigators, bombardiers, me ...
*
Military history of African Americans The military history of African Americans spans from the slavery in the United States, arrival of the first enslaved Africans during the colonial history of the United States to the present day. In every war fought by or within the United States ...


References


External links


Biography
CUNY-TV
Interview
BuildingNY with Michael Stoler, May 24, 2012 *Guide to the Records of the Institute of African American Affairs (RG.9.8) finding aid, http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/archives/iaaa/scopecontent.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Roscoe 1922 births 2016 deaths United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II Tuskegee Airmen Congressional Gold Medal recipients Tuskegee University People from the Bronx African-American aviators Aviators from Washington, D.C. Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) Springfield College (Massachusetts) alumni New York University alumni Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development faculty Bronx Community College faculty Burials at Arlington National Cemetery Presidents of Bronx Community College 21st-century African-American people