Process Paper

America’s military was dominant during World War II as the United States did everything to
preserve hegemony, such as being the main supplier of firearms. The United States army, in particular,
had proven to be successful from their recent victory in World War I. Yet, during this time period of
strong racial tensions, African Americans were segregated from being a part of the United States military.
Our project demonstrates the injustices potential African American aviators faced on their journey to
being a part of the United States Army Air Corps. We examined The Tuskegee Airmen specifically as
they were a prominent yet minority fighter group during World War II. Unfortunately in today's society,
the successes and accomplishments the Tuskegee Airmen faced in light of heavy racism is mostly ignored
and not widespread celebrated. We chose this topic to capture these monumental moments of the
Tuskegee Airmen in both African American and Civil Rights history, and use this heroic story to show
that anyone, regardless of race, can achieve tremendous feats.
Our research project heavily relied on primary sources and accounts of the Tuskegee Airmen.
This included not only several interview clips, but also an autobiography ​A-TRAIN: Memoirs of a
Tuskegee Airmen​ which illustrates the period of racial integration in the army and most importantly,
civilian life. We also relied on several secondary sources, besides informational websites, ​Freedom Flyers
provided us an overview of key events during the Tuskegee Airmen’s road to success. Regarding media,
we also thoroughly watched ​The Tuskegee Airmen​ ​that aired on HBO to gain fundamental knowledge on
the background of the Tuskegee Airmen. In addition, we have spent hours reading newspaper clippings,
examining letters and pictures from historical archives and the Library of Congress, and observing
pictures and captions displayed in ​The Tuskegee Airmen: An Illustrated History​.
We chose to do a website because it will allow us to engage with audiences, both during and
outside the contest, better since there are so many interactive features a website can provide compared to
writing a historical paper, etc. The website allowed us to display quotes in a majestic format, images with
captions, and additional multimedia we chose to use. Furthermore, a website allows us to communicate
the information more directly and effectively to readers since it is relatively short, concise, yet bears
plenty of information.
The barriers the Tuskegee Airmen broke through are clear: overcoming both racism and facism
and proving American perception of African Americans false. From the small project “The Tuskegee
Experiment” to training at Freeman Field to winning alongside the Allies during World War II, the
Tuskegee Airmen were able to defy traditional stereotypes and racist attitudes. They demonstrated
tremendous moral growth and tolerance as they fought alongside white aviators, even though they
underwent personal struggles, especially racism. The Tuskegee Airmen are the symbol for perseverance
through tough times and the barriers they broke affected American citizens, especially African
Americans, for generations. Army integration, the Civil Rights Movement, and many more throughout
United States history was either directly or indirectly influenced by the Tuskegee Airmen. Even though
racism is still a major issue in society, the Tuskegee Airmen helped alleviate the prejudice against African
Americans since they were nationally recognized and praised for their war efforts. Ultimately, the
Tuskegee Airmen helped pave the way for social improvements in not only the United States military, but
also in American society.