Internet Resources
- Roscoe Brown of the Tuskegee AirmenDr. Roscoe Brown served in the USAAF as a fighter pilot in the 100th Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group, 15th Air Force.
- The Tuskegee AirmenInformation on the Tuskegee Airmen from Tuskegee University.
- Tuskegee AirmenThe Tuskegee Airmen were the first Black military aviators in the U.S. Army Air Corps (AAC), a precursor of the U.S. Air Force.
- The Tuskegee Airmen: An Interview with the Leading AuthorityDaniel Haulman, PhD, one of the world's leading authorities on the all African American Tuskegee Airmen, joins us for an interview on their service, challenges, and legacy.
Research & Reference
- Tukegee Airmen: Britannica AcademicTuskegee Airmen, black servicemen of the U.S. Army Air Forces who trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama during World War II. They constituted the first African American flying unit in the U.S. military.
- Tuskegee Airmen: Credo ReferenceA Credo Reference landing page for the Tuskegee Airmen. This page includes links to reference works, journal articles, and a mind map.
Streaming Media
- Freedom Flyers of Tuskegee: The Tuskegee AirmenBefore there was a Civil Rights Movement in the Unites States of America, there were the actions of the Tuskegee Airmen. Many African American men and women were aviators in the early 1930's, but established military policy forbade them from flying. However, as World War II loomed, there was heavy pressure from black organizations and leaders such as the NAACP, A. Phillip Randolph (head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping-Car Porter's Union), Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, and some journalists to offer U.S. Army pilot training to black United States citizens.
- Tuskegee Airmen: Legacy of CourageRobin Roberts explores the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen, the legendary group of African American pilots including her father that served in WWII, revealing how these warriors for change helped end segregation in the military.
- The Tuskegee Airmen and "the Experiment"Race was a fault line in many aspects of the war, especially in the United States as our nation fought for democratic ideals abroad while discriminating at home. Examine the segregated military before the war and review how World War II began to crack the military's wall of discrimination. Learn about the Tuskegee Airmen.
- Veteran Voices: Tuskegee Airmen Share Their StoriesThis webinar features veterans from one of the most distinguished groups of air crewmen in American history: the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African American pilots during WWII. Know for their stellar flying record and their distinctive aircraft, these Red Tails Angels broke barriers by fighting fascism abroad and prejudice at home. These courageous pilots encountered discrimination and racism, quieting doubters as they flew perilous bomber-escort missions over Europe, rarely losing a plane.
Perspectives
Freedom Flyers: The Tuskegee Airmen of World War II
As the country's first African American military pilots, the Tuskegee Airmen fought in World War II on two fronts: against the Axis powers in the skies over Europe and against Jim Crow racism and segregation at home. Although the pilots flew more than 15,000 sorties and destroyed more than 200German aircraft, their most far-reaching achievement defies quantification: delivering a powerful blow to racial inequality and discrimination in American life.In this inspiring account of the Tuskegee Airmen, historian J. Todd Moye captures the challenges and triumphs of these brave pilots in their own words, drawing on more than 800 interviews recorded for the National Park Service's Tuskegee Airmen Oral History Project. Denied the right to fullyparticipate in the U.S. war effort alongside whites at the beginning of World War II, African Americans - spurred on by black newspapers and civil rights organizations such as the NAACP - compelled the prestigious Army Air Corps to open its training programs to black pilots, despite the objectionsof its top generals. Thousands of young men came from every part of the country to Tuskegee, Alabama, in the heart of the segregated South, to enter the program, which expanded in 1943 to train multi-engine bomber pilots in addition to fighter pilots. By the end of the war, Tuskegee Airfield hadbecome a small city populated by black mechanics, parachute packers, doctors, and nurses. Together, they helped prove that racial segregation of the fighting forces was so inefficient as to be counterproductive to the nation's defense.Freedom Flyers brings to life the legacy of a determined, visionary cadre of African American airmen who proved their capabilities and patriotism beyond question, transformed the armed forces - formerly the nation's most racially polarized institution - and jump-started the modern struggle forracial equality.
Red Tail Captured, Red Tail Free
This book is a rare and important gift. One of the few memoirs of combat in World War II by a distinguished African-American flier, it is also perhaps the only account of the African-American experience in a German prison camp. Alexander Jefferson was one of 32 Tuskegee Airmen from the 332nd Fighter Group to be shot down defending a country that considered them to be second-class citizens. A Detroit native, Jefferson enlisted in 1942, trained at Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, became a second lieutenant in 1943, and joined one of the most decorated fighting units in the War, flying P51s with their legendary--and feared --"red tails." Based in Italy, Jefferson flew bomber escort missions over southern Europe before being shot down in France in 1944. Captured, he spent the balance of the war in Luftwaffe prison camps in Sagan and Moosberg, Germany. In this vividly detailed, deeply personal book, Jefferson writes as a genuine American hero and patriot. It's an unvarnished look at life behind barbed wire-- and what it meant to be an African-American pilot in enemy hands. It's also a look at race and democracy in America through the eyes of a patriot who fought to protect the promise of freedom. The book features the sketches, drawings, and other illustrations Jefferson created during his nine months as a "kriegie" (POW) and Lewis Carlson's authoritative background to the man, his unit, and the fight Alexander Jefferson fought so well.