http://www.Tuskegee.edu
Jane Dow
History Pd. 1
Jackson
May 9, 2012
Racism and the
Tuskegee Airmen
NOTICE: The following presentation contains copyrighted materials used under the Multimedia Guidelines and Fair Use exemptions of U.S.
Copyright law. Further use is prohibited.
MY POSITION:
• If a person can pass the test to become a
pilot then they are qualified to be a PILOT.
http://www.nasm.si.edu/blackwings/hstory/story03img.cfm
http://www.picturehistory.com/product/id/3528
“The privileges of being an American
belong to those brave enough to fight
for it.”
- Benjamin O. Davis Jr. (Davis).
The most important reason African American flyers
had so much trouble getting their license s and
flying missions over Europe was the Myth of
Inferiority.
•
There was a misconception that Black pilots
were inferior and could not perform as well in
combat as their white counterparts.
•
In 1925, the War College of the U.S. Army issued
a memorandum entitled, “The Use of negro
Manpower in War.” It said that African
Americans were inferior to whites and
encouraged continued segregation within the
Army. (Johnson)
•
In 1943, Maj. Gen. John Cannon said that the
99th Fighter Squadron had failed to demonstrate
effectiveness in combat and should be
removed from the combat zone. (Johnson)
http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/tuskegee/airoverview.htm
The conflict involved segregation and the limits
on what African Americans can do in the
military.
African Americans began their
pilot training for the U.S. Army
in 1941 at Tuskegee Institute
Civilian Pilot Training School.
(Scott)
http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/tuskegee/lgimage/air28.htm
CAUSES OF THE CONFLICT:
• Not many African American pilots due to opportunity
and money
• Many military officers and higher ups feared that
African American officers would be in charge of white
pilots in a segregated military.
• Roosevelt wanted the support of African American’s
in the next election even though, few, if any, voted in
the South.
WHO WAS INVOLVED:
• 332nd Fighter Group – the only African American pilots to
serve in combat with the Army Air Force during WW2.
• President Franklin Delano Roosevelt – U.S. President 19331945. In 1840 he opened up a program to train African
American pilots at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.
• Capt. Benjamin O. Davis – One of the first Blacks to join the
Tuskegee Airmen. Later he became the first African
American General in the Army Air Force. (Davis)
http://maxminimus.blogspot.com/2010/09/bow-ties-and-national-security.html
This may have never been a conflict
if more African Americans found the
courage to vote, especially in the
South. By voting they would have
had a better chance at less
discrimination.
• “ I believe it was my duty and my responsibility,
as my father did and my grandfather did, that if
the country is in trouble, you do what you have
to do…”
- Lt. Col. USAF (Ret.) Lee Archer
Pilot, 332 Fighter Group (McKissack)
WORKS CITED:
Davis, Benjamin O. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. American: An Autobiography. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2000 .
Dryden, Charles W. A-Train: Memoirs of a Tuskegee Airman. Tuscaloosa.: University of Alabama Press, 1997 .
Francis, Charles E. The Tuskegee Airmen: The Men Who Changed a Nation. 3rd edition. Boston: Branden Publishing Company, 1993.
Johnson, Hayden C. The Fighting 99th Air Squadron, 1941-1945. New York: Vantage Press, 1987.
Lee, Ulysses. The Employment of Negro Troops. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Center of Military History, 1966; reprint, 1986, 19 90.
McKissack, Patricia C., and McKissac, Fredrick L. Red-Tail Angels: The Story of the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II. New York: Walker
& Co, 2001.
Scott, Lawrence P., and Womack, Sr., William M. Double V: The Civil Rights Struggle of the Tuskegee Airmen. East Lansing: Michigan
State University Press, 1994.
IMAGES
“Eight Tuskegee Airman circa 1942.“ 1 May 1. http://www.Tuskegee.edu.
“Tuskegee Flyer.” 1 May 2012. http://www.nasm.si.edu/blackwings/hstory/story03img.cfm.
“1940.0044.” 8 May 2012. http://www.picturehistory.com/product/id/3528.
“LOC Image of a Tuskegee Airmen.” 1 May 2012. http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/tuskegee/airoverview.htm.
“Tuskegee Airmen.” 1 May 2012. http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/tuskegee/lgimage/air28.htm.
“Red Tails.” 8 May 2012. http://maxminimus.blogspot.com/2010/09/bow-ties-and-national-security.html.