Tuskegee Airmen Base

1616 Chappie James Ave. Tuskegee, AL 36083, (334) 724-0922

Click here for hours  Free admission

Just off the highway on the way to Atlanta and just outside of the town of Tuskegee (where Rosa Parks was born and Booker T. Washington was a teacher) is the Tuskegee Airmen Base, managed by the National Parks Department.  The Tuskegee Airmen were primarily African American pilots and bombers who fought in World War II, although there were a few pilots who were from Caribbean Islands and Latin countries.  It was extremely controversial in 1941 for the air-force to recruit 922 bodies of color to fight alongside the white airmen.  In fact the bathroom at the Tuskegee Airmen Base was the very first integrated bathroom in the south in 1941, more than 20 years before desegregation would occur in the south. Many of the airmen experienced tremendous discrimination from their peers.  However, they are considered some of the heroes of WWII and after the war they received three distinguished unit citations, 1 silver star, 96 distinguished flying crosses, 14 bronze starts, 744 air medals and 8 purple hearts. I cannot help but imagine what it must have been like to have been a decorated American war hero and then to return to the harsh reality of segregation in the Jim Crow south.

The Tuskegee Airmen Base is a National Historic Site, managed by the National Parks Department.  On the day that we stopped by the base it was quiet, only two other people had also stopped by.  We entered the hanger, which is a fantastic museum, with original planes, flight simulator, photos and interactive displays.  Although the doors were open no one seemed to be monitoring the building.  Because we weren’t entirely sure that we were allowed to be there we did not stay long, but I highly recommend this stop.  Especially for the kids, it was a fun and stimulating experience.