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We Made History: Collective Memory and the Legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen
Author(s) -
Hunter Andrea G.,
Rollins Alethea
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/josi.12109
Subject(s) - military service , excellence , ideology , sociology , racism , military personnel , race (biology) , politics , gender studies , law , political science
This qualitative investigation examines the collective constructions of the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen and men's perspectives of the impact of their military experiences on their postwar lives. African American men ( n = 93) who participated in the “Tuskegee Experiment” as pilots, ground crew, and other military personnel were surveyed. The emergent legacy focused on record of excellence and accomplishment in their individual performance and military service, the contesting of American racism and its impact on racial ideology and social policy, and lessons for the next generation that can be drawn from this history. In civilian life, in the military and aviation, and as civic actors the Tuskegee Airmen distinguished themselves as Black men, and as Americans. The meanings of these social identities and the inherent contradictions of race, nation, and war are embedded within the Tuskegee Airmen history and legacy.