The First Black Meteorologists In The USA

African American airmen made history during World War II when they flew planes in combat. To assist with this and other segregated military duties, the US military established the Tuskegee Weather Detachment around the same time. Before 1941, there were no black professional meteorologists in the military or in the civilian world. In early 1941, this changed when five enlistees from the 99th pursuit squadron enrolled in Chanute Field, Illinois, to serve as weather observers.

Around the same time, Wallace P. Reed entered MIT as the first African American in the meteorological aviation cadet program. Reed graduated in February 1942. These six men were the founding members of the Tuskegee Weather Detachment. The United States military established the Tuskegee Weather Detachment on March 21, 1942, when opportunities for people of color were opening in the United States military. A small group of African American Army Air Corps servicemen became what was likely the United States' first African American meteorologists.

Dr. Charles E. Anderson was the first African American to receive a Ph.D. in meteorology. He was a dean at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Dr. Charles E. Anderson pioneered research and work that involved minimizing the contrails of high-altitude aircraft. As a scientist and more specifically as a meteorologist, Anderson’s research was focused on cloud and aerosol physics and the meteorology of other planets. During his career, he was nationally acknowledged as a leading expert on severe storms and tornadoes. 

June Bacon-Bercey broke many barriers and paved the way for others, particularly for women and African Americans in meteorology. Noted as the first African American and first female-degreed broadcast meteorologist, Bacon-Bercey is considered a pioneer in the field of meteorology. In 1954, she became the first African American female in the United States to earn a bachelor of science degree in meteorology from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Before retiring from a position at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 1993, she held positions as a weather forecaster, weather analyst, radar meteorologist, aviation meteorologist, broadcast journalist, public administrator, and educator.