The Tuskegee Airmen
The Tuskegee Airmen
On January 16, 1941, the War Department announced the creation of the Army Air Corps 99th Pursuit Squadron – the nation’s first African American flying unit.
The 99th Pursuit Squadron trained at the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama, where there was an airfield and a civilian pilot training program. Soon, “Tuskegee Airmen” became the nickname for the World War II Army Air Forces units that were made up predominantly of African American pilots and maintenance crews.
From 1941 to 1946, hundreds of African Americans successfully trained as pilots at the Tuskegee Institute, serving with distinction throughout the war. They flew 1,578 combat missions and earned three Distinguished Unit Citations, at least one Silver Star, and 96 Distinguished Flying Crosses. However, they were fighting for freedom on two fronts: against Nazism in Europe and against discrimination at home in the United States.
From the beginning of the war, African Americans serving in the Armed Forces were segregated into all-black units and limited in the types of positions they could hold. To allow for the creation of the 99th Pursuit Squadron and similar units, Congress had passed legislation in 1939 expanding the Army Air Corps (the precursor to today’s Air Force). Among the act’s provisions was the creation of training programs located at historically black colleges to prepare African Americans for Air Corps service. It wasn’t until after the war that President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981 in 1948, leading to the desegregation of the United States military.
On March 29, 2007, these pilots received the Congressional Gold Medal from President George W. Bush for their commitment and service to the nation.
In celebration of the 75th anniversary of the creation of this historic unit, a flight report from a mission flown in support of the Anzio, Italy invasion and a petition sent to the War Department by officers protesting discriminatory practices in the Army Air Forces were on display in the “Featured Documents” exhibit in the East Rotunda Gallery of the National Archives in Washington, DC, from January 7, 2016, through March 2, 2016.
Past Featured Records
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70th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
Thursday, February 1, 2024 – Wednesday, February 28, 2024
East Rotunda GalleryEquity in Education: 70 Years Later
On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court delivered a unanimous ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that “separate but equal” was unconstitutional in... Read more
250th Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party
Thursday, December 14, 2023 – Wednesday, January 31, 2024East Rotunda GalleryThe Destruction of the Tea
It wouldn’t be known as the “Boston Tea Party” for another 50 years, but the destruction... Read more
Diseños: An Impact of Mexican Cession
Tuesday, June 20, 2023 – Wednesday, October 18, 2023
East Rotunda GalleryAt the end of the Mexican-American War, the United States annexed more than half of Mexico’s territory under the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Under its terms, the U.S. promised to... Read more
Celebrating Anna May Wong
Anna May Wong
National Archives, Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service“I want to be an actress, not a freak.”
Film legend Anna May Wong’s talent could not be contained by the racist casting of early Hollywood movies. Born Wong Liu Tsong in Los Angeles in 1905,... Read more
The Maker of Pilots: Willa B. Brown
Willa B. Brown, February 13, 1943
National Archives, Records of the Office of War InformationAviator Willa Beatrice Brown (1906–92) achieved numerous “firsts” in her lifetime, many of them earned through her tireless advocacy to integrate aviation programs. Brown began taking flying lessons in 1934,... Read more