James Everett Bowman was born to Floyd and Adelaide Bowman in Des Moines, Iowa, on 25 October 1922 and graduated from North High School in 1940. While at Iowa State he lived at various locations in Ames: 218 Lincoln Way (1940-1941), 2512 ½ Lincoln Way (1941-1942), and 117 Welch Avenue (Fall 1942).
Like other men of his day, he registered for the draft, but according to his story, he was told that since there were so few Negroes in college, as long as he kept his grades up, they wouldn’t send him to war. However, Bowman said he still felt the need to serve: “‘I’d go to church and see my friends’ parents and they’d say, “Jimmy what are you still doing here? My son is over there getting shot at.” Well, I got to thinking about that and decided I wanted to carry my load. I was thinking, “well, I do want to fly an airplane”‘” (“James Everett Bowman,” 2019).
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, which he heard about while in the ISC library, Bowman continued to think about enlisting or at least doing his part in the war effort. He left his study of Biology at Iowa State and worked at the Des Moines Ordnance Plant for a time as a janitor, then as a chemist at the Ford plant. He finally entered the Army Air Corps in 1943 at Camp Dodge, Iowa, and was sent to Biloxi, Mississippi, for his training. He survived a plane crash in South Carolina before going on to complete his Class 44-K-SE Tuskegee Airmen training on February 1, 1945, becoming a flight officer. Bowman didn’t see battle because the war ended just a few months later, but his success helped prove that Blacks were capable of piloting aircraft.
Upon returning to Des Moines, Bowman obtained a B.S. from Drake University. Turned away by Des Moines schools in 1947, he taught education and psychology at Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, while obtaining a master’s degree there in 1949. Later, he returned to Des Moines and taught science at Weeks Middle School and completed his doctorate at Drake in 1975. He took on administrative roles in the district and eventually become the first Black Assistant Superintendent of Instruction for Des Moines Public Schools. Active in a number of community organizations, Bowman also lectured nationally on multicultural education, black history, and the experiences of the Tuskegee Airmen.
With his wife, Gloria, the two raised two daughters, Linda and Gale. Linda (Bowman) Lane was also a former Des Moines schools administrator. Bowman died on 13 January 2014, in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
Sources
Photo Credit: https://cafriseabove.org/james-everett-bowman/
James Everett Bowman. (2019, June 6). CAF Rise Above. https://cafriseabove.org/james-everett-bowman/
