Section: Events
Tuskegee Airman: Pioneering black pilots to be honored
Apr 4, 2007

The Tuskegee Airmen played a significant and courageous role in WW II.

As America’s first black military pilots, retired Colonels Buck Newsum, James Harvey and John Mosely belong to the pioneering group known as the Tuskegee Airman. Famous for their victories in the air in World War II, these men also won significant gains for African Americans in the battle against segregation and racial discrimination.

On Wednesday, April 11, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. in the Tivoli Turnhalle, Metro State’s Black Student Alliance and History Club will host “Tuskegee Airmen: The Black Knights,” an event to honor these singular men.

Trained at Alabama’s Tuskegee University between 1942 and 1946, a time when most black soldiers served their country as cooks, janitors or in other menial jobs, almost 1,000 black Americans graduated to become pilots who flew as escorts to protect American and Allied bombers. The Tuskegee Airmen shattered racial stereotypes by successfully flying more than 15,000 sorties over North Africa and Europe, ultimately destroying more than 250 enemy aircraft on the ground and 150 in the air. Reportedly nicknamed the “Black Birdmen” by the Luftwaffe because of their tenacity and skill, the 99^th Squadron received two Presidential Unit Citations for outstanding tactical air support and aerial combat. Unaware the airmen were black, the Allies called them the “Redtails” and requested them for escort cover whenever possible. The 332^nd received 744 Air Medals, 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 14 Bronze Stars and the Presidential Unit Citation for its longevity. The outstanding record of the Tuskegee Airmen helped influence the enactment of President Harry S. Truman’s Executive Order 9981, which led to the desegregation of the military.

On March 29, 2007, Newsum, Harvey and Moseley received the Congressional Gold Medal in Washington D.C., an award given to individuals or groups for singular acts of exceptional service and for lifetime achievement. The Tuskegee Airmen are also having a commemorative coin minted in their honor.

The April 11 event includes talks by the medal winners and will be followed by a short question-and-answer session, autograph and book signing from 2:15-3 p.m.

For more information contact Gloria Burns, president of the Black Student Alliance, at 720-253-6749, gburns4@mscd.edu, or Ruthanne Johnson, vice president of the History Club at 720-940-7561, jdruth99@aol.com.