Percy Knox 1964 - 1968

 Guest Post by Hassan Richardson

My reenactment character is a fictional composite character by the name of Percy Knox (P.K.); an African American male teenager who attended Rufus King High School from 9^th to 12^th grade (1964-1967). His mother moved Percy to Rufus King High School during 9^th grade due to conflicts with bussing in the city. Percy experienced some racial encounters as a new student here; the school was becoming increasingly Black which caused some racial tension at the time. This influenced Percy to befriend fellow African American students and get involved with putting Freedom Day posters in Milwaukee Public Schools. He attended Freedom School on May 18^th, 1964, and was briefly instructed on Robert Henry Lawrence Jr (1935-1967), who was in the US Air Force and was a future prospect for US space missions at the time (became first African American astronaut). Lawrence was from Chicago, IL. Percy researched Robert Henry Lawrence Jr. and recaptured his long-time passion for astronomy. He continued his involvement by becoming more career-focused in 11^th grade as he was set on becoming an astronomer and/or astronaut. UWM was a local and promising university at the time, especially for the physics department, hence the concluding development of the physics building and the Manfred Olson Planetarium (1966). Percy also attended several planetarium lectures held by physicist Manfred Olson. Lawrence and Olson were idols to Percy and inspired him to attend UWM (1967-1971) as a Physics (B.S.) major with an emphasis in astronomy. Tragically, Percy’s main role model Robert Henry Lawrence Jr.  died in December of 1967 in a fighter jet crash. He was remembered by his family, US Air Force, and those he impacted.