Captain Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom
The second American to fly into space was Gus Grissom. He was also the first American to make a second trip into space.
The second American in space was Virgil Grissom, on the 21st of July, 1961. This was the second American 'suborbital' flight, where true space was entered, but the pilot did not make a full orbit of the planet.
Gemini
Surveyer
The Geminii program
Ronald Mcnair was the second African American to go into space.
An American Eagle.
Gus Grissom was the second American to travel into space aboard the Liberty Bell 7 spacecraft on July 21, 1961 as part of the Mercury-Redstone 4 mission.
The first African American to travel in the space was Guion Bluford. He was however the second from African ancestry to travel in the space.
Captain Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom He was 2nd American into space behind Alan Shepard. Yuri Gagarin was the first Human into space.
The second American-manned space program was Project Gemini. It ran from 1961 to 1966 and aimed to develop space travel techniques necessary for the Apollo missions to the Moon. Gemini spacecraft carried two astronauts and conducted various maneuvers and experiments in space.
As I recall, the programs ran in this order: Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Space Shuttle, ISS .