Dates

• Existence: 1922 May 9 - 2008 September 17

Biographical Note: David L. Davidson, Jr.

David ("Dave") Louis Davidson, Jr. was an electrical engineer at The Boeing Company and worked on the Saturn V Rocket and Lunar Rover projects. He served in the U.S. Marines from 1942-1946 during World War II and in the U.S. Army Reserves Engineer Corps from 1957-1962.

Born in Bayou Goula, Louisiana on May 9, 1922 to Mary Beatrice Davidson and Rev. David Louis Davidson, Davidson graduated from the Central Colored High School in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1941. He then entered the U.S. Marine Corps on October 13, 1942, training at Camp Montford Point near Jacksonville, North Carolina and serving in the Pacific Theater during World War II. After his honorable discharge from the Marines on March 8, 1946, Davidson earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in 1950.

Davidson also taught physics, math, and electrical engineering at Alcorn State University in Lorman, Mississippi for ten years, circa 1952-1963.

Davidson then worked at The Boeing Company as an electrical engineer, where he contributed to the Saturn V Rocket and the Lunar Rover projects. He served as the first Black lead engineer at the Boeing Michoud Plant in New Orleans, Louisiana. To qualify for this position, Davidson had to complete a qualification examination, and he was one of only a few or possibbly the only Black person in his testing group. Davidson earned a perfect score, but the examiner believed Davidson cheated and had him immediately retake the test under close monitoring. Davidson repeated his perfect score.

In the early 1960s and at the request of Boeing senior management, Davidson conducted a secret investigation that revealed discriminatory hiring and promotion practices at the Michaud Plant. He identified qualified Black employees that the Michaud Plant's management had overlooked for promotions and assigned to low level organization positions.

In 1969, he relocated to the Seattle, Washington area, where he worked at Boeing's Space Center in Kent, Washington. He retired in 1988.

Davidson and Eva Ruth Dugue married in August 1949, and the couple had three children and nine grandchildren. He died on September 17, 2008 at age 86 in Seattle, Washington. On June 27, 2012, Davidson posthumously received the Congressional Gold Medal. President Barack Obama awarded the medal to the Black Marines who trained at Camp Montford Point from 1942-1949.

Biographical sketch derived from donor information and records on Ancestry.com.

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