Maj. Gen Marcia M. Anderson, 53, is already on record as the highest ranking black woman in the history of the US Army and now she’s upped the ante. She is once again making history after having been recently promoted to a two-star general, the third highest rank in the armed forces branch.
The East St. Louis native was deputy-commanding general of U.S. Army Human Resources Command at Fort Knox, Ky., at the time of her promotion on Sept. 29.
Gen. Anderson, who first joined the Army Reserves in 1976, got her first introduction to the Army during ROTC in college at Creighton University in Nebraska.
She is especially grateful for her achievement, explaining in an interview with the Associated Press that after World War II, there were many limited opportunities for African Americans, including her father.
“This is for people like him who had dreams deferred,” she said referring to her father’s failed dream of flying bombers during his time in the military. Her dad instead was resigned to driving trucks because of the limited opportunities for blacks at that time.
Gen. Anderson is now stationed at the office of the chief of the U.S. Army Reserve in Washington, D.C. Major generals are in charge of centers such as Human Resources Command and command Army divisions of up to 16,000 soldiers.
