During WWII, many Black Americans were marginalized against their ability to join the upper ranks of the army due to their “inherent inferiority.” Despite this, the Tuskegee Airmen represented those Black individuals who were able to join the American Airforce during WWII, as well as the navigators and personal that helped maintain aircrafts. This group of airmen was initially stationed and trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field, later on flying over 15,000 individual flights during the war. This earned the force close to 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses, an award given to individuals that engage in heroic or remarkable behavior during the war.
Towards the end of the 1940s, Roosevelt announced a ramping up in civilian training to become pilots. In response to widespread racism at the time, newspapers such as the Chicago Defender paired with groups such as the NAACP in advocating that Black Americans be included in such efforts. This was ultimately responded to with the Tuskegee airforce.
In the war, the first notable accomplishment of the airforce was their ability to shoot down 12 German fighter planes in 2 days after being relocated to Italy. This gained the airforce renown and the eventual growth of the group until they adopted modern P-51 Mustangs, which often escorted bomber planes. These planes were painted red at the tailfin, earning them the name of “Red Tails”. Although rumored to never have lost a bomber during the war, later evidence points out that at least 25 bombers were destroyed on their escorts, still staggeringly lower than the average of 46 bombers.
Following the war, much of the racism that existed before the war towards black soldiers still remained. However, the Tuskegee airmen proved a pivotal point in government reform towards equal opportunity in the military. In 1948, Harry S. Truman signed Executive order 9981, essentially desegregating the military. Many of these individuals also held high ranking military positions post WWII, such as George S. Roberts, who became the first black general in the military.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/tuskegee-airmen
http://tuskegeeairmen.org/
https://valor.militarytimes.com/award/6
https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=84
I found this article very informing. Personally, the topic interests me as well. I think the presentation of evidence is also very logical and well done. An aspect of this article I found particularly interesting was the section where you mentioned that the Tuskeegee airmen were popularly seen as never having lost a bomber, even though that wasn't true. I wonder why this phenomenon occurred. I also did some more research on the Distinguished Cross Award. To this day, there have only been a few thousand of these awarded. TO think that the Tuskeegee Airmen alone make up 150 is pretty remarkable. Well done!
ReplyDelete