He is the only son of Jewel Lafontant and John Rogers Sr . His mother Jewel was the first African American woman to graduate from the University of Chicago Law School in 1946 . She became a prominent Republican lawyer , and she nominated Richard Nixon , who won the Republican Party Presidential Nomination , at the 1960 Republican National Convention . His father was a Tuskegee airman pilot with over 100 combat missions of service during World War II and an eventual Cook County judge for twenty years . His parents divorced in 1961 and his mother died in 1997 . Rogers was three years old when his parents divorced . He has a daughter , Victoria , with his former wife Desirée Rogers
1960 Republican National Convention
1960 Republican National Convention
John W. Rogers Jr.