Identification Card
- Description
- World Trade Center identification card issued to Uhuru G. Houston of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The card includes a color photograph of Houston in his PAPD uniform on the right side. His name is printed as "Houston | Uhuru" on the left. The card has a green background. "World Trade Center" is printed at the bottom, with the logo of the towers on the left.
- 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.
- Accession Number: C.2014.226.6
- Dimensions: 2.125 in X 3.375 in
- Dimensions (Metric): 5.3975 cm X 8.5725 cm
- Source: Sonya Houston
- Credit Line: Gift of Sonya Houston and family in memory of Uhuru G. Houston
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