Description Black leather badge holder belonging to Uhuru G. Houston. The holder includes a metal nameplate with printed text: "G. Houston."
Historical Notes Uhuru Houston, known as Gonja, was born in Brooklyn. He grew up in Canarsie housing projects, sewing clothes and cutting hair to earn money. As an adult, he lived with his wife, Sonya, and their two children in Englewood, New Jersey. A PAPD officer assigned to the World Trade Center, on September 11, Officer Houston helped evacuate the PATH station, then headed to the towers to assist there. He was 32 years old.
Curator's Comment PAPD Officer Uhuru Houston and fellow PAPD officers were taking a shoplifting suspect into custody when hijacked Flight 11 struck the building more than 90 floors above the holding cells. Houston received authorization to release the prisoner and, along with Officer Michael T. Wholey, began to aid in the evacuation of the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) train station. Minutes later, Officers Houston, Wholey, and Clinton Davis, Sr., evacuated the underground area of the North Tower.