Charles Herbert Flowers, namesake of our school, was a Glenarden resident, who was born in Wadesboro, North Carolina. After graduating in May of 1942 from the Army Air Corps Flight Training Center located at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, he became the first African American with military training to become a primary flight instructor of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II.
After the war, Dr. Flowers completed his college degree in Business Administration at what is now known as North Carolina Central University. While at Central, he became the first student government president. He later moved back to Maryland, and in 1965 he went to work for NASA at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt. He retired as the Manager of Employee Relations in 1990.
While retired he kept himself busy and active in the community and at his church, Ebenezer United Methodist Church in Lanham, Maryland. Through his church, he mentored children at James McHenry Elementary School and Thomas Johnson Middle School. Additionally, he worked with the Youth in Aviation program in this area, and was a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.
In the year 2000, a high school was built in Springdale, Maryland. Prince George's County Public Schools system had to decide on a name for this high school. Representatives of the School Board had looked at several other figures for names, but had chosen instead to name the school after Charles Herbert Flowers, a man whose name became the school's legacy. He was the first living figure to have a high school named after him in Prince George's County. "Charles Herbert Flowers, Airman of Power," is apart of the Alma Mater and inspires the students everyday. In February of 2002, just two years after the school's opening, the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corp of Charles Herbert Flowers High School was founded. Originally, Army ROTC was considered as the program, but Air Force ROTC was chosen to uphold Dr. Flowers' legacy. Dr. Flowers attended many programs that involved the AFJROTC attachment at Charles Herbert Flowers High School. Every year for graduation, when Dr. Flowers attended, our ROTC cadets would have the honor of escorting Dr. Flowers to and from the commencement exercise. He would attend our Pass in Review ceremonies as well, from our time of founding in 2002 to the year he passed, 2011. Every Cadet who steps through the classroom threshold to the Aerospace Science instruction class at Charles Herbert Flowers High School detachment MD-20022 is swearing to uphold Dr. Flowers' legacy as well as represent our instructors and the Air Force itself.
