He interacted with many famous people was taught by Booker T. Washington, advised by Charles Lindberg, encouraged by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, welcomed by the dictaors Batista in Cuba and Trujillo in the Dominican Republic and the activist Marcus Garvey in Jamica, and feted by 10 governors in the United States and the West Indies. He played an important role in promoting aviation at Tuskegee prior to the formation of the Tuskegee Airmen, was inducted into the Smithsonian Air Museum, and has a commemorative cachet from the U.S. Post Office.