The Tuskegee airmen are a distinguished group of African American men that had a lot to do with the U.S military over the years and fought in World War 2.
They were not allowed leadership roles and skilled training because many thought they didn’t have qualifications for combat duty. African Americans were barred from flying for the U.S. military. Civil rights organizations and the black press exerted pressure that resulted in the formation of an all African-American pursuit squadron based in Tuskegee, Alabama, in 1941. They became known as the Tuskegee Airmen.
The name of the group came from all that were involved in “Tuskegee Experiment”, the Army air corps program to train African Americans to fly and maintain combat aircraft. This group included all types of men from pilots to navigators and everything in between. The military selected this group to train pilots because of its commitment to aeronautical training. They had the facilities and the engineering and technical instructors.
The Tuskegee airmen competed their first Civilian training in May of 1940. The center was expanded and became the center of African American aviation in World War 2. The Tuskegee airmen overcame prejudice and segregation but most of all showed people that they could do what most thought they couldn’t which was that they could fly and maintain aircraft; they paved the way the full integration in the military.
When I first started this project I would have never knew I would have learned so much about this group of men. The Tuskegee airmen are an amazing group of men and I would have been thrilled to meet them and talk to them about their experiences.
Comments: This isn't a story that hasn't been told before -- it reads like a report. Need to do more primary source research and tell a story that hasn't been told before.
