Allyson R Solomon
First woman and first African-American to lead the Maryland Air National Guard.

Tobago-born Allyson R Solomon has created history and will be recorded as the first woman and first African-American to lead the Maryland Air National Guard.

Solomon was yesterday promoted to Brigadier General during a simple ceremony at the military home base in Baltimore.

A report yesterday in the Baltimore Sun catalogued the 47-year-old’s climb to success.

She is the second woman to attain the rank of Brigadier General in the Maryland Guard since it was established in 1774.

Solomon is the first to assume the title of assistant adjutant general for air—in charge of more than 1,500 Air Guard members.

Governor Martin O’Malley was quoted by the paper as saying: “General Solomon’s record of service and personal achievements serve as an inspiration to all the airmen who serve our nation and our state.”

Solomon reflected on her childhood, saying many of the men in her family were police officers in T&T and it was thus she grew to appreciate structure.

“It seemed a natural thing for me to do something along that line,” Solomon wrote to the Baltimore Sun, in an e-mail.

Solomon’s mother is a seamstress and her stepfather, a former T&T police officer, became a Maryland Transit Administration bus driver.

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Allyson R Solomon

AGE: 47, born in Tobago in 1941

BACKGROUND: Solomon’s mother was an accomplished seamstress in Tobago and her step-father worked with the T&T police service. The family migrated to Northeast Baltimore, USA in 1951 when Solomon was 10-years-old.

EDUCATION: Solomon attained a bachelor's degree in business from Loyola College in Maryland and later became the holder of a a master's from Auburn University

WORK: She has spent most of her career in administrative positions at the Guard and the National Guard Bureau. Solomon was chief of the National Guard Bureau's general officer branch. She has also been commander of the Air Guard's 175th mission Support Flight.