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Slide Notes

Sources:
Secondary
Homan, Lynn M. and Thomas
Reilly. Black Knights: The
Story of the Tuskegee
Airmen. Gretna, LA:
Pelican Pub., 2001. Print.
The Tuskegee Airmen. Dir.
Robert Markowitz. Perf.
Laurence Fishburne.
HBO, 1995. DVD.

Primary
Roosevelt, Franklin D. "1944
FDR Letter to Walter
White." Letter to Walter
White. 14 Oct. 1944. N.p.:
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Presidential Library and
Museum. National
Archives and Records
Administration. Web.
"Aviation History: Interview
with Tuskegee Airman
Charles McGee." History
Net Where History
Comes Alive World US
History Online. Aviation
History, 12 June 2006.
Web.
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Tuskegee Airmen

A short study on the Tuskegee Airmen from WWII, done for APUSH class.

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PRESENTATION OUTLINE

1.

The Tuskegee

Airmen             Formation - A WWII STOry
Sources:
Secondary
Homan, Lynn M. and Thomas
Reilly. Black Knights: The
Story of the Tuskegee
Airmen. Gretna, LA:
Pelican Pub., 2001. Print.
The Tuskegee Airmen. Dir.
Robert Markowitz. Perf.
Laurence Fishburne.
HBO, 1995. DVD.

Primary
Roosevelt, Franklin D. "1944
FDR Letter to Walter
White." Letter to Walter
White. 14 Oct. 1944. N.p.:
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Presidential Library and
Museum. National
Archives and Records
Administration. Web.
"Aviation History: Interview
with Tuskegee Airman
Charles McGee." History
Net Where History
Comes Alive World US
History Online. Aviation
History, 12 June 2006.
Web.
2.

Introduction

  • 332nd Fighter Group
  • Tuskegee training
  • Media
332nd
-contained 4 black squadrons
-99th best known
-mostly stationed in Italy

Tuskegee training
-army air corps training
privatised
-Tuskegee in Alabama chosen for
black squadrons

Media
- two movies, The Tuskegee
Airmen and Red Tails
-black airmen featured in later
media, such as the character
Kinchloe in "Hogan's Heroes"
3.

Question:
What struggles did the Tuskegee Airmen face in their formation, and what lasting impacts did they have on civil rights?

Key Question
4.

Challenges

  • "Studies"
  • Conflicting leadership
  • Wash outs
Studies
-scientific "studies" conducted on
the suitability of Negroes for
the military
-turned up bad results in 1925
and 1937
-slowed process significantly

Conflicting leadership
-white commander Col. Noel F.
Parrish highly supportive, as
were all other instructors.
outside government outlooks,
encountered little personal
racism
-in early days not allowed into
Air Corps
-some in black community
fought against program,
wanted full integration
-many famous pilots, like
Charles Lindbergh, opposed
the program

Wash outs
-in first class, 5 of 13 students
graduated
-in Tuskegee Airmen (movie)
followed class who lost 1/3 of
members halfway through
5.

Successes

  • Media support
  • Eleanor Roosevelt
  • Combat record
Media support
-The Pittsburgh Courier was a
highly influencial newspaper in
garnering support for program
-Walter White, secretary of
NAACP also vocal to blacks in
military, politely diverted by
FDR

Eleanor Roosevelt
-visited Tuskegee in 1941, was
flown by black civilian trainer
Chief C. Alfred Anderson
-unlike FDR, who was focused on
reelection, truly believed in
cause

Combat record
-once eventually deployed to
Italy, 99th and rest of 332nd
had a perfect record as
bomber escorts- never lost a
single plane
6.

The result?

effects in the years after
Blue Ribbon Panel
-panel of military high-ups in
1945, discussing integration
-Noel Parrish, white commander
at Tuskegee, Walter White of
the NAACP, Brig. Gen. Benjamin
O. Davis Sr., and many others
testified in favour
-many opened minds by success
of the 332nd, but panel didn't
think it would ever work
-p. 210 "Black Knights"

Executive Order 9981
-issued by President Harry
Truman in 1948
-desgregated the Armed Forces
-by this point the Air Force had
become its own military branch

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