The first black military men were the Tuskegee Airmen
Introduction
The first black military men were the Tuskegee Airmen. They greatly took part in World War 2 and received their piece of work as pilot wings. An estimate of 1 000 black pilots was trained at and graduated from Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama.
George L Washington
He attained a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Mechanical Engineering and became the first recorded engineer in North Carolina. Before World WAR II, he helped establish an Air Force training program for black pilots AT Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.
Warren Henry
He was a Chemist-physicist. He trained Chemistry and Physics to the young men who were waiting for the enrolments in the Army. He also developed a video amplifier for transportable radar systems to sense and track German submariners and was recruited by the MIT radiation Laboratory in 1953
Wallace Patillo Reed
He was a trained weather officer. He graduated as the first African-American meteorologist in 1942. He was instructed into the Army Air Corps, to orient the first class of pilots graduated from the Tuskegee Army Air Field. He assisted in the training of the weather officers who deployed oversees.
Yenwith Whitney
In the year 1944, Whitney went on to serve as a pilot in one of all -black fighter units in the 332 fighter group. Whitney flew 34 combat missions in Europe during the war. He also took part in escorting heavy bombers and earned a three cluster and an Air Medal for his service.
Victor Ransom
Victor’s training in engineering must have favored him into being recruited as a signal corp.
Victor was the first person into the white officer’s club, after violating orders to remain in their quarters. Following the incident was an arrest for not obeying the segregation rules. A congressional inquiry cleared Victor and the others in a few weeks. A few months later, the war ended, and Ransom returned to college to complete his Bachelors in Electrical engineering.
He acquired his Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering in the year 1957.
Louis M Young
Louis’ love for planes pushed him to build model airplanes and had big dreams of becoming an aeronautical engineer or a pilot. Louis was the only one in the aeronautical engineering class, and so he secured a job fast. At Lockheed’s engineering department, Louis was the first African American who got hired. He received many promotions in his thirty-eight years of working. He retired as the Chairman of the Board, planning, and he was serving as the head of the Tuskegee Airmen Scholarship Fund Program.
Luther T Prince
Prince enrolled that the Tuskegee Institute but transferred to Ohio State University one year later. When World War 2 began, his studies got interrupted, pushing him into serving in the Army for three years before. He achieved a bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and got hired by an electronics company named Honeywell. Prince was the first AFRICAN American to be inducted into the Minnesota Business Hall of Fame after he developed a standardized plug-in wall unit.
Chief Charles Anderson
He started the Tuskegee Civilian Training program. He was the first African American to hold a Ph.D. in meteorology. Medal of honor for congressional was awarded to him in 2007. He was the first lady’s pilot, Mrs. Roosevelt, who was an upcoming civil rights activists. The first lady asked for her flight with Charles to be photographed. Instantly, she developed a film so that she could take pictures back to Washington to persuade her husband to activate the Tuskegee Airmen in North Africa and in the European Theatre. Charles trained over nine hundred airmen at Tuskegee Institute, and this made it possible for his flying squadron to persuade President Harry Truman to end segregation in the U.S military, and this enabled the opening of America to a new social order.
The greatest challenge faced by the Tuskegee airmen faced was racism. They were hated for their ‘colored’ skin. Racism towards the Tuskegee airmen was broadly exhibited. The blacks and whites were expected to work in unison on air, but segregation was to be highly considered in times of no action. The white men did not even share their halls, barracks, or even seats with the black American soldiers.
It was believed that a black man lacked the brainpower, courage, and expertise to fly or operate an advanced aircraft. The Tuskegee airmen proved their excellence as military pilots, but they were still pushed into operating under regulated units.
The propellers and the tails of the planes of the black soldiers had a red painting, which made them sarcastically branded as the (Red Trail Angels). The Germans also referred to the military pilots as the ‘Blackbirds.’ The Tuskegee men had to bear the mocking nicknames.
President Roosevelt made an executive order of expanding the civilian pilot training program in the United States in the year 1938. Racial segregation still remained the rule in U. S. This order led to an increase of African Americans from 3%-8%. Opportunities to the workforce for the blacks were now available, though the blacks were assigned to the low paying jobs. This did not fight racism. The whites did not want to work with the blacks.
In the warring events, the Tuskegee lost some of their members to attacks and serious injuries, and some of the black Americans were held as prisoners of war at the Nazis. This was a challenge because that point meant a reduction of the Blackman’s manpower.
Conclusion
The good performance of the Tuskegee airmen in the combat showed evidence that they were fully deserving of equal opportunities given to the pilots and other servicemen. This record encouraged the Airforce to integrate before the other services. The Tuskegee was a good role model for the others. They stood firm in persistence under segregation, and they also risked their lives for the massive love they had for their country. The Tuskegee received the Congressional Gold Medal award in March 2007 from President George.W.Bush.