Tributes to Colin Powell after first Black US Secretary of State died from Covid complications

Colin Powell, 84, the first Black US secretary of state, has died of Covid-19 complications.

His leadership within numerous Republican administrations helped shape America's foreign policy relations over two decades.

"General Colin L. Powell, former US Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, passed away this morning due to complications from Covid-19," the family wrote on Facebook.

"We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather, and a great American," they said while mentioning that he received a full vaccination.

Mr Powell was a brilliant and pioneering professional soldier whose career led him from combat action in Vietnam to being Ronald Reagan's first Black national security adviser and President George H.W. Bush's youngest and first African American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

After the US-led coalition victory in the Gulf War, his national popularity rose, and he was considered a top contender to become the first Black President of the United States for a time in the mid-1990s. But, as George W. Bush's first secretary of state, he presented erroneous intelligence to the United Nations to advocate for the Iraq War, which he later described as a "blot" on his record.

Mr Powell became the highest-ranking Black government official in the country when he was sworn in as Bush's secretary of state in 2001, despite never running for president. He was fourth in the presidential line of succession.

Speaking of his Senate hearing nomination, Mr Powell noted that it shows "the world" what is possible to achieve in the US no matter who you are.

"It shows to the world that: Follow our model, and over a period of time from our beginning, if you believe in the values that espouse, you can see things as miraculous as me sitting before you to receive your approval," he said

Check out some tributes below of his incredible service to US history.