People you should know, but don't

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The implication of man’s travel into space and to literally reach for the stars was examined in closer detail by Mike and the CLF Summer Institute participants by looking at the life of Columbia, SC native Charles Bolden.  Bolden was born in 1946 in segregated South Carolina, where the law at the time forced him to study in a blacks-only school equipped with hand-me-downs and used books.

Despite the hard road of segregation, he logged top grades and pounded on the gates of the U.S. Naval Academy until a Northern congressman helped him get in. Bolden was elected president of his class, and graduated with the gold bars of a Marine second lieutenant.

Bolden earned his Naval Aviator wings and became one of America's outstanding combat pilots, flying more than 100 missions in the skies of North and South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Upon returning home, he became a leading Marine Corps test pilot and a NASA astronaut — logging 680 hours in Earth orbit.

Bolden first piloted the  Space Shuttle Columbia 23 years ago, and followed with three more space shuttle flights, including the flight that deployed the famed Hubble Space Telescope in 1990 and the first shuttle mission with a Russian crew member, in 1994. Bolden was shuttle commander for two flights, the one in 1994 as well as a science mission in 1992.

The spaceflight veteran retired from the military as a Marine Corps major general in 2003. Three years later, he explained during a Senate hearing why only astronauts could do certain tasks in space, and why only robots — like the rovers currently operating on Mars — should be used to explore certain types of hostile terrains. He made it clear that all sciences should get a fair shake.  In 2009, President Barack Obama appointed Bolden to be head of NASA, where the former astronaut serves today as its first ever Black Administrator.

The power of the Centurion credit card (the “Black Card”) provided the introduction to the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of American Express, Kenneth I. Chenault.  As one of the most powerful men in the world of business and finance, Chenault was another person that the CLF Summer Institute participants had never heard of, but should have.  It was pointed out that both David Drummond and Ken Chenault, as powerful Black men in the business world, were sought out solely for their “brain power” and that they have personal wealth and current earnings that not only rival most professional athletes, but far exceed most of them!

Dr. Benjamin E. Mays was the last person highlighted and only a part of his legacy, that of being a major influence on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a mentor and friend was presented.  The group also learned that the Greenwood, SC native played a vital role to the secondary education of a number of Blacks in Spartanburg as there once was the Benjamin E. Mays High School in Pacolet, SC serving School District 3. The entirety of Dr. Mays’ legacy will be examined by the CLF Summer Institute youth as a part of their final field trip as the group will travel to Greenwood to visit his childhood and the Museum established in his honor.

The dynamic session ended with the group travelling locally to Mr. Gatti’s Pizza for food and down time by watching the Cartoon Network on a movie theater screen.