From a Washington Post obit by Alexa Mills headlined “Clifford Alexander Jr., first Black Secretary of the Army, dies at 88”:

Clifford L. Alexander Jr., a Harlem-raised, Ivy League-educated lawyer who was a crusading chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in the late 1960s and later served as the first Black secretary of the Army, died July 3.

Guided by powerful mentors in academia, law and government, Mr. Alexander was the first Black student-body president at Harvard University, the first Black partner at the elite Washington law firm Arnold & Porter and spent his career seeking to shatter racial boundaries with statesmanlike calm. He seemed destined for elective office but lost a close race for D.C. mayor in 1974, shortly after the city won home rule.