![]() ![]() One of the most famous black unit of the war was the 99th Fighter Squadron. Their impressive performance earned them more than 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses, and helped encourage the eventual integration of the U.S. Trained at the Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama, they flew more than 15,000 individual sorties in Europe and North Africa during World War II. ![]() Army Air Corps (AAC), a precursor of the U.S. The Tuskegee Airmen were the first Black military aviators in the U.S. As we remember their contributions to WWII, we are reminded of the Nation's struggle for equality. ![]() At home, African Americans proactively fought for their right to work in positions in the Defense industry, facing discrimination and segregation. The War Department managed to put the money into funds of civilian flight schools willing to train black Americans.ĭuring WWII, more than 2.5 million African American men registered for the draft, and African American women volunteered in large numbers. Schwartz designating funds for training African-American pilots. Finally, on 3 April 1939, Appropriations Bill Public Law 18 was passed by Congress containing an amendment by Senator Harry H. The effort was led by such prominent civil rights leaders as Walter White of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, labor union leader A. The racially motivated rejections of World War I African-American recruits sparked more than two decades of advocacy by African-Americans who wished to enlist and train as military aviators. Instead, Bullard returned to infantry duty with the French. African-American Eugene Bullard served in the French air service during World War I because he was not allowed to serve in an American unit. In 1917, African-American men had tried to become aerial observers but were rejected. Before the Tuskegee Airmen, no African-American had been a U.S. ![]()
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