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WEKU
Ajani Daniel

She's currently the only Black woman leading a state military. Here's how it happened

Maryland Wes Moore Larry Hogan ROTC
Maj. Gen. Janeen Birckhead serves as Maryland's 31st adjutant general — making her the only Black woman who leads a state military in the U.S. Here, Birckhead sits inside NPR's studios for an interview with NPR's Jonathan Franklin. (Ajani Daniel/NPR)

When applying to colleges, Maj. Gen. Janeen Birckhead and her mother exhausted every option possible to cover her tuition. For Birckhead, a career in the military was never something that crossed her mind.

Little did she know her application for an ROTC scholarship at Hampton University in Virginia would set her on the path to becoming the leader she is today.

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