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Veteran's Day Look Back: The Tuskegee Airman

history.com
hough it can be said that the Tuskegee Airmen are to
military aviation what Jackie Robinson is to major three newer Tuskegee squadrons to form the 332nd Fighter
Tleague baseball, it is surprising that many Americans Group. The 332nd distinguished itself in Italy, flying combat
still have not heard of them. missions and escorting bombers.
Prior to World War II, many in the military believed that The "Tuskegee Experiment" was expected to fail. However,
African-Americans would not perform well in combat and not only was the program a milestone in training African-
were incapable of flying. A 1925 study conducted by the Americans as military pilots, but the Tuskegee Airmen went on
Army War College concluded that to succeed with flying colors. Tuskegee pilots garnered some
African-Americans were inherently of the most envied military records in
ill-suited for combat physically history, and more importantly advanced
and psychologically. In 1939, the the American Civil Rights Movement
government began establishing flight by setting the precedent that would
schools at colleges around the nation force the American military to begin to
but refused to do so at any of the fully integrate in 1948 -- more than a
Black colleges. A Howard University decade before Martin Luther King Jr.
student lodged a lawsuit in protest, marched on Washington.
and thanks to mounting pressure The Tuskegee program also forged
from black newspapers, the NAACP, a group of men who would earn
and sympathetic government leaders, advanced degrees and make notable
including President Franklin D. achievements in the fields of law,
Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor, the "Tuskegee Experiment" social policy, politics, medicine, education, and finance.
was begun. A flight school was founded at the historic Surprisingly, aviation was not on this list, as private aviation
Tuskegee University in Alabama, and On July 19, 1941, the industries were closed at the time to African-Americans.
Army Air Corps initiated the program. That the 926 service members who graduated from Tuskegee
At its inception, twelve cadets and one officer, Captain succeeded at a time when racist attitudes were officially
Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., who later became the Air Force's sanctioned in the military is a testament to the men's
first African American general, were in the program. These extraordinary determination to succeed as pilots, which by its
and later graduates became known as "Tuskegee Airmen," nature is one of the most academically and psychologically
and formed the 99th Pursuit Squadron. The 99th fought with challenging areas of military service.
distinction in the Mediterranean Theater, and later joined

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