Colin Powell was born in New York during 1937, 17 years before the civil rights movement and 27 years before segregation ended. He spent the first 27 years of his life under the rules and laws that segregation had placed upon the African-American communities around the country. …show more content…
He went to New York public schools, and graduated from City College of New York (CCNY). He then went to Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) and graduated in 1958 as second lieutenant in the United States Army. During an interview he said, “I came into the Army just after segregation ended, and it was still a situation where I could go to Fort Benning, Georgia, to get my infantry and paratroop and ranger training, but if I went outside of Fort Benning, Georgia, to Columbus, Georgia, it would still segregate.” He was in the Army for thirty-five years, serving two tours in Vietnam, receiving ten badges, 17 metals and ribbons, 7 foreign decorations, and came out with a rank as a four star