Editing Colin Powell (section)

==Early life and education==
Colin Luther Powell was born on {{Birth date|1937|4|5}},<ref>{{cite web|title=Biographies of the Secretary of State:Colin Luther Powell|url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/powell-colin-luther|publisher=US Department of State, [[Office of the Historian]]|access-date=November 16, 2015|archive-date=August 2, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180802072551/https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/powell-colin-luther|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="palmowski2008">{{Cite book|last=Palmowski|first=Jan|chapter=Powell, Colin Luther|chapter-url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199295678.001.0001/acref-9780199295678-e-1890|title=A Dictionary of Contemporary World History|year=2008|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0-19-929567-8|edition=3d|oclc=173498636|access-date=October 18, 2021|archive-date=October 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019154654/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199295678.001.0001/acref-9780199295678-e-1890|url-status=live}}</ref> in [[Harlem]], a neighborhood in the New York City [[borough (New York City)|borough]] of [[Manhattan]].<ref name="NYT Obit">{{Cite news|last=Schmitt|first=Eric|author-link=Eric P. Schmitt|date=October 18, 2021|title=Colin Powell, Who Shaped U.S. National Security, Dies at 84|language=en-US|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/18/us/politics/colin-powell-dead.html|access-date=October 18, 2021|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=October 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018121900/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/18/us/politics/colin-powell-dead.html|url-status=live}}</ref> He was born to [[Jamaican Americans|Jamaican]] immigrants Maud Ariel (née McKoy) and Luther Theophilus Powell.<ref name="NYT Obit" /><ref>{{Cite news|last=Oster|first=Patrick|date=October 18, 2021|title=Colin Powell, U.S. Army general-turned-top diplomat, dies at 84|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/10/18/world/colin-powell-obituary/|access-date=October 20, 2021|work=[[The Japan Times]]|language=en-US|archive-date=October 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020015328/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/10/18/world/colin-powell-obituary/|url-status=live}}</ref> His parents were both of mixed [[Afro-Jamaicans|African]], Irish, and [[Scottish Jamaicans|Scottish]] ancestry.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Colin Powell claims Scottish coat of arms |first=Tania |last=Branigan |work=The Guardian |location=London |date=May 12, 2004 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/may/12/usa.world |access-date=December 11, 2016 |archive-date=March 5, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170305025802/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/may/12/usa.world |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |journal=Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter |volume=9 |issue=20 |date=May 17, 2004 |title=Colin Powell's Scottish Ancestry |url=http://www.eogn.com/archives/news0420.htm#ColinPowellsScottishAncestry |access-date=November 5, 2008 |archive-date=July 4, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080704175342/http://eogn.com/archives/news0420.htm#ColinPowellsScottishAncestry |url-status=dead }}</ref> Luther worked as a shipping [[clerk]] and Maud as a [[seamstress]].<ref name="CNN staff">{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/20/us/colin-powell-fast-facts/|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Colin Powell Fast Facts|publisher=[[CNN]]|date=March 30, 2016|access-date=September 30, 2016|archive-date=October 3, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161003075659/http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/20/us/colin-powell-fast-facts/|url-status=live}}</ref> Powell was raised in the [[South Bronx]] and attended the now closed [[Morris High School (Bronx, New York)|Morris High School]], from which he graduated in 1954.<ref>{{Cite book|last=O'Sullivan|first=Christopher D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IEKNwp4eHs0C|title=Colin Powell: American Power and Intervention From Vietnam to Iraq|year=2009|publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]]|isbn=978-0-7425-6535-7|language=en|page=ix|access-date=October 18, 2021|archive-date=October 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211029181332/https://books.google.com/books?id=IEKNwp4eHs0C|url-status=live}}</ref>

While at school, Powell worked at a local baby furniture store, where he picked up [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]] from the Eastern European Jewish shopkeepers and some of the customers.<ref>{{Cite web|date=October 18, 2021|title=Four things you didn't know about Colin Powell|url=https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-10-18/four-things-you-didnt-know-about-colin-powell|access-date=October 19, 2021|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|archive-date=October 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018235904/https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-10-18/four-things-you-didnt-know-about-colin-powell|url-status=live}}</ref> He also served as a [[Shabbos goy]], helping Orthodox families with needed tasks on the Sabbath.<ref>"Former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell and Mario Cuomo, former governor of New York State, each a former Shabbos goy, both share fond recollections of their youth, when they were uniquely qualified to lend a Jewish neighbor a hand." Fertig, Avi. "Glatt Kosher Adventure To The Land Down Under", ''The Jewish Press'', November 21, 2007.</ref> He received a bachelor of science degree in geology from the [[City College of New York]] in 1958<ref name="Education">{{cite web|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/20/us/colin-powell-fast-facts/|title=Colin Powell Fast Facts|publisher=CNN|date=April 2, 2017|quote=Education: City College of New York, B.S. in geology, 1958; George Washington University, M.B.A., 1971; National War College, 1976|access-date=April 26, 2017|archive-date=April 27, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170427095916/http://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/20/us/colin-powell-fast-facts/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/colinpowellschool/powellbio|title=About Gen. Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.)|date=July 2, 2015|publisher=The Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership, The City College of New York|quote=He attended New York City public schools and the City College of New York. At the behest of his father, he began his college education as a [[civil engineering]] major but by his own admission he didn't earn high grades. He quickly switched his major to [[geology]] where he performed better but was still a C average student .|access-date=April 26, 2017|archive-date=April 27, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170427100903/https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/colinpowellschool/powellbio|url-status=live}}</ref> and said that he was a "C average" student.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Schwab|first1=Nikki|title=Colin Powell: bad student|url=http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/colin-powell-bad-student/article/670496|magazine=Washington Examiner|date=May 30, 2012|quote="My cousins became lawyers and doctors and judges and I just sort of hung around," he recalled. "I had a straight C average all the way through high school and the City College of New York – I'm not sure how I got in."|access-date=April 26, 2017|archive-date=December 24, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171224005152/http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/colin-powell-bad-student/article/670496|url-status=live}}</ref> While at CCNY, Powell shifted his study focus to the [[Reserve Officers' Training Corps]] (ROTC) and became a "straight A student" in it;<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |title=Honoring General Colin Powell |url=https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/honoring-general-colin-powell |access-date=2023-11-05 |website=National Museum of African American History and Culture |language=en}}</ref> he held the distinction of being the first chairman to have attained his commission through the ROTC.<ref name=":0" /> Powell also graduated from [[George Washington University]] with an MBA in 1971 and was awarded an honorary doctor of public service in 1990.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Colin L. Powell {{!}} GW's Bicentennial Celebration {{!}} The George Washington University|url=https://bicentennial.gwu.edu/colin-l-powell|access-date=October 19, 2021|website=bicentennial.gwu.edu|archive-date=October 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019030740/https://bicentennial.gwu.edu/colin-l-powell|url-status=live}}</ref>