A Lifetime of Service: Colonel Donald C. Latson’s Legacy from Black Thursday to Building the Dream

Colonel Donald C. Latson’s first humanities lecture at UF had more students than his entire high school. A first-generation college student, he was one of about 250 Black students in what he calls the “Florida Experiment,” and part of Black Thursday in 1971. He went on to join the inaugural class of UF’s two-year Air Force ROTC program and served 30 years in the Air Force. Now a founding ADI donor, he reflects on belonging, service, and the responsibility to reach back.