Tuskegee Airmen

             Throughout history, African Americans have been met by prejudice and mistreatment. This attitude towards blacks has not only been seen in the public work place and social activities, but in the armed forces as well. Since early American military history, blacks have always been involved in defending our country. However, they were never really given full credit and recognition for their hard work and patriotism. Not only were they unrecognized, but they were required to serve in all black units. World War II was no different and there was still deep segregation of the armed forces. Once the United States entered the war, all the black leaders and black press protested against this segregation and treatment of blacks as inferior. This resulted in the formation of the "Tuskegee Experiment" in March of 1941 (The Tuskegee Airmen, p.27). It was to "prove" racial deficiencies in intelligence and concentration of black pilots compared to white pilots. This experiment definitiv!
             ely backfired on its founders and the Institute successfully graduated 992 pilots including Generals Daniel James, Benjamin O. Davis Jr. and Lucius Theus. Although it took much more than graduating well-educated, capable pilots to change the story of segregation in the armed forces, the Tuskegee Airmen were instrumental in the support of desegregation.
             The Tuskegee Institute had been founded by Booker T. Washington in 1881 and was originally known as the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. It became The Tuskegee Institute in 1937. The school originally taught the regular academic subjects but put an emphasis on practical education such as farming, carpentry, brick making, shoemaking, printing and cabinetmaking. Students worked to build the school, moving it from a shanty building in 1881 to a school with over 400 students based on 540 acres of land in 1888. This education was supported by whites because of Washington's c...

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