Nov 16, 2025
Ruth Lucas, 1969
She "was the first African American woman to attain the rank of full Colonel in the United States Air Force and was a life-long advocate for higher education."
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Ruth Lucas, 1969
She "was the first African American woman to attain the rank of full Colonel in the United States Air Force and was a life-long advocate for higher education."
The first African-American woman to win a Tony for ‘Best Leading Actress’ is Phylicia Rashād.
The Texas native won in 2004 for her role as Lena Younger in A Raisin in the Sun. She reprised the role in the 2008 made for TV movie alongside Sean “Diddy” Combs and Audra McDonald (who also won a Tony in 2004 for best featured actress in A Raisin in the Sun).
Rashād is best known for playing another matriarch Clair Huxtable in the 1984-1992 sitcom The Cosby Show on NBC.
Obit of the Day: Colonel Ruth Lucas, Air Force Pioneer
When Colonel Ruth A. Lucas retired from the United States Air Force in 1970 she was the highest ranking Black female in that branch of the military.
Col. Lucas' military career began in 1942 when she enlisted in the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps immediately after graduating from the Tuskeegee Institute. Dating back to World War I, the WAAC (or WAC) provided an opportunity for women to serve in the military in non-combat positions.
In 1947 when the Air Force was made an independent military branch Col. Lucas transferred. For the two decades Col. Lucas would focus on education in the USAF. She developed literacy programs for servicemen after discovering that thousands of men across all branches read below a 5th grade level. She was promoted to colonel, the first Black woman to attain that rank in the Air Force, in November 1968.
After she retired in 1970, Col. Lucas would work at the University of District Columbia. She would leave UDC in 1994.
Colonel Ruth A. Lucas passed away on March 23, 2013 at the age of 92.
Sources: Washington Post, Ebony Magazine (Nov. 1969)
(Image of Col. Ruth A. Lucas is copyright of Johnson Publishing.)
Other posts of interest on Obit of the Day:
Gen. Margaret Brewer - 1st woman to reach the rank of general in the Marine Corps
Lt. Commander Wesley Brown - 1st African American graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy
Sgt. Lavergne Celestine - One of the original WAC/WAACs and one of the first Black servicewomen to reach the rank of 1st Sergeant
Brigadier General Ditta McCarthy - 1st woman promoted to general in the Australian army