Harris, Marcelite Jordan
1943-2018 · Contribution: 1965-1997
Became, in 1990, the first African American woman to be promoted to general officer in the U.S. Air Force, and in 1995 the first to reach the two-star rank of major general, retiring as the highest-ranking woman in the Air Force and highest-ranking Black woman in the Department of Defense
Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Impact on the world
After three rejected applications, Harris was finally admitted to the Air Force's Aircraft Maintenance Officer Course in 1970, becoming the service's first female aircraft maintenance officer and going on to a career of repeated firsts — one of the first two women to serve as air officers commanding at the U.S. Air Force Academy, the first female commander of a technical training wing (Keesler Air Force Base, 1988), and the Air Force's first female Director of Maintenance, a role in which she was accountable for the operational readiness of every Air Force aircraft and weapon system. Promoted to brigadier general in 1990 and major general in 1995, she retired in 1997 as the Air Force's highest-ranking female officer and the U.S. Department of Defense's highest-ranking Black woman, having also served as a White House social aide under Presidents Ford and Carter.
Life & background
Born January 16, 1943, in Houston, Texas, to a postal supervisor father and school librarian mother, Harris graduated from Spelman College in 1964 with a degree in speech and drama, intending to become an actress, but joined the Air Force's Officer Training School the following year after acting work failed to materialize. She rose steadily through technical and command assignments over a 32-year career, earning a business management degree from the University of Maryland and attending national security programs at Harvard, while raising two children with her husband, Lieutenant Colonel Maurice Harris. After retiring in 1997, she worked as Florida site director for United Space Alliance, NASA's shuttle-program contractor, served as chief of staff for the New York City Schools Chancellor, and was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2010 to the U.S. Air Force Academy's Board of Visitors. She died September 7, 2018, while on vacation in Miami, and was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery beside her husband.
Sources
- Texas State Historical Association (Handbook of Texas); The HistoryMakers; NBC News
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