American history has never looked brighter as colorized images of historical moments and people are featured in Michael D. Carroll’s new book, Retrographic: History’s most exciting images transformed into living color.
The Tuskegee Airmen are one of the significant figures presented in the book with black and white stills and a colorized image as they were a crucial part in the eventual integration of the US armed forces.
The first ever unit of its kind was composed of African American airmen serving in the US military against the Nazis in World War II.
In 1940, a year before the ‘Tuskegee experiment’ was activated, the United States Army Air Corps reversed its position on accepting black flight program applicants due to pressure from black activists, the press, other political groups and President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
A colorized image of the Tuskegee Airmen is featured in Michael D. Carroll’s new book, Retrographic: History’s most exciting images transformed into living color
However, the higher ranking military officials were not fully committed to this change and anticipated that the program would fail spectacularly.
The Army’s decisions about blacks in its ranks were still influenced by a 1925 Army War College report called The Use of Negro Manpower in War, according to RedTail.org.
The 67-page report was full of cruel and untrue generalizations about the behavior of black men during wartime and the black race in general.
But despite being subject to intense segregation abroad and at home, the airmen were determined to create a ‘record of excellence during their training and future war service so there could be no doubt about their value as patriots and aviators’.
And as a result of their bravery and heroism, the Tuskegee Airmen were awarded numerous honors including Distinguished Flying Crosses, Legions of Merit, Silver Stars and Purple Hearts.
The Tuskegee Airmen were named after the Alabama airfield and University at which they trained during World War II.
Stills from the book show the group, who were officially part of the 332nd fighter group of the US military, fixing various plane parts and taking off from the airfield, with one daring pilot even hitching a ride on the wing of one of the airplanes as it makes its way down the runway.
The 332nd fighter group, which originally included the 100th, 301st, and 302nd fighter squadrons, along with the 477th bombardment group, were the first two squadrons of African American airmen to be enlisted in the US military – the Air Force wasn’t officially established until 1947.
In early 1944, the group was deployed to Italy and in June of that same year, the 332nd Fighter Group began flying heavy bomber escort missions.
In July 1944, the 99th fighter squadron was assigned to the 332nd fighter group, which then had four fighter squadrons.
The 477th bombardment was never fully manned or saw combat but got the full brunt of racism that existed in the United States at that time.
In many parts of the United States, especially the south, the existence of Jim Crow ‘laws’ kept black and white Americans segregated from each other in places such as schools, buses and the military.
Jim Crow laws were enacted in the late 1800s after the Reconstruction period and continued until 1965.
During that time, African Americans received ‘separate but equal’ treatment with these regulations affecting where they could drink, eat and use the bathroom.
In addition, African Americans were systematically denied the right to vote in most of the rural South through the selective application of literacy tests and other racially motivated criteria.
The first ever unit of its kind was composed of African American airmen serving in the US military against the Nazis in World War II and played a huge role in integrating the armed forces
The ‘Tuskegee experiment’ was activated in 1941 when the United States Army Air Corps reversed its position on accepting black flight program applicants
Stills from the book show the group taking off from the airfield, with one daring pilot even hitching a ride on the wing of one of the airplanes as it makes its way down the runway
The Tuskegee Airmen were named after the Alabama airfield and University at which they trained during World War II. In many parts of the United States the existence of Jim Crow ‘laws’ kept black and white Americans segregated from each other in places such as schools and the military
And as a result of their bravery heroism, the Tuskegee Airmen were awarded numerous honors including Distinguished Flying Crosses, Legions of Merit, Silver Stars and Purple Hearts