Italy african heroes biography
African-american heroes!
Italy african heroes biography
Domenico Mondelli: The Rise, Fall, and Restoration of a Black Italian Hero
Robert Fikes Jr., Emeritus Librarian, San Diego State University
Standing dead centre in a photo surrounded by a score of fellow officers, with more shiny medals on his chest than anyone, is Domenico Mondelli, the only dark-faced man in the group.
Owing to the recent work of a dogged researcher, librarians, and cooperative relatives who finally pieced together many more details about his astonishing life, we now know how he avoided death in Africa as a child to become the world’s first Black aircraft pilot; won distinction in both the Italian Army and Air Force; defied Mussolini’s fascists to eventually become the highest-ranking Black soldier in his nation’s history; and ultimately was celebrated for his singular accomplishments.
Ascent of the ‘Black Eagle’
There are two plausible competing stories about how Mondelli, believed to have been born June 30, 1886, wound up in a foreign city 2,600