The Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum recently showcased an event featuring an historic opportunity to hear first-hand accounts by Tuskegee Airmen Lt. Col. Harry Stewart.
The event was held at the Coleman A. Young International Airport in Detroit, home to a Tuskegee Airmen Airplane hangar, classroom and lab space, a ground school and the site of a new educational and event space.
“We get to stand on the shoulders of greatness,” said Shamalia Willis, political and education liaison at the Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum. “The Tuskegee Airmen have paved the way. We’re giving young people the opportunity to come here to learn how to become pilots. We also have a drone program and even an airplane maintenance program.”
Students from across metro Detroit come to experience the breath of the skillset they could acquire in the aircraft industry.
“My dad always encouraged me to pursue my dreams,” said Stephanie Johnson, the first Black woman captain at Northwest Airlines and currently captain and chief pilot for Delta Airlines. “I always thought flying looked like it was something cool, but I didn’t know any pilots, but turns out my dentist was a Tuskegee Airman and I didn’t know until years later.”
She recounts how the Tuskegee Airmen didn’t receive jobs as pilots when they returned from the military; instead they were forced to work regular jobs. Visiting the museum with her father was an important trip to make, recounting important lessons in history and further bonding moments with dad.
For over 20 years, the museum has been impacting the community by preserving the storied history of the first all-Black fighter pilot squadron, the Tuskegee Airmen. The museum has amassed the largest repository of Airmen memorabilia in the world while also investing in the future of our youth with outstanding STEM programs that have impacted thousands of students. Programs offered include drone pilot certification, pilot licensing, rocketry exposure and airplane mechanics familiarization.
“It was in the 70s when I took flying lessons,” said retired Detroit judge Craig Strong. “I was a lawyer at the time and I was I was in the military reserve. I was around airplanes. In the military I couldn’t fly an airplane but in the civilian world I could.”
Judge Strong recounts his flying lessons at the city’s airport, home to the Tuskegee Museum where he remembers how easy it was to get a plane in the air — hard however to land it. He was present for the special event which honored the Tuskegee Airmen.
“This is a part of America’s history and we need to recognize their heroic efforts in preserving this country for democracy as well as the world.”
These sponsored programs have been especially important to underserved youth. Museum President Dr. Brian Smith shared exciting updates and unveiled plans for a portion of the museum’s multi-million dollar project to expand the current Detroit museum footprint to include new construction, a state of the art STEM education and event facility, that is slated to be unlike any other.
At the special event, executives from both the State of Michigan and from international corporations Google, Amazon, the Detroit Pistons and other special guests enjoyed presentations by captains in the aviation industry who have been trained by the museum’s programs and who are now thriving in their fields. Guests heard from current students studying in the pilot, ground school, drone piloting and the airplane mechanics programs.
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