“We want to make this an educational exhibit for people to view the history of the Tuskegee Airmen and America,” said Nathaniel Moore, the college’s director of marketing and communication “This is the only exhibit in the Northeast.”
   The exhibit consists of a timeline of events, photographs and drawings of the distinguished men, a model of a plane they used hanging from the ceiling, and, last but not least, a tall statue of a Tuskegee Airman.
   Several Tuskegee men of the Claude B. Govan Tristate Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc., came to witness the opening of the exhibit and speak to a group of high school students. The students listened to the men tell their stories of the racism they faced and the planes they disabled or shot down.
   These men represented African Americans before civil rights leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, by holding their heads up high and telling themselves the skies were no limit. These courageous men enlisted in the Army Air Corps, the predecessor to the Air Force, at a time when there were no African Americans flying a single or twin-engine plane in the military.
   “I saw the planes flying out of Mitchell Field and it bugged me there were no black men flying those planes,” said Bill Johnson.
   With the help of Walter White, president of the NAACP, and Thurgood Marshall, the first cadet class of African Americans began training in July 1941 and completed it in March 1942.
   “It was supposed to be an experiment down in Tuskegee, Alabama,” Johnson said. “The military officials at the time thought we were incapable of flying an aircraft.”
   No standard was lowered for the pilots or any other individual who trained in operations, intelligence, engineering and medicine.
   “Not all the cadets were pilots,” noted Julius Freeman. “I was a medical technician.”
   On July 26, 1948, President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9981, which integrated the armed forces.
   “The Tuskegee Airmen made it possible for black men to join the armed forces because of their performance,” Johnson said. “We proved that black men are intellectually and physically capable of completing assignments.”
   Forty-eight chapters of the Tuskegee Airmen group were established around the United States to keep their memory alive. According to Ed Monroe, the president of the Claude B. Govan Tristate Chapter, there are only 130 of the original 15,000 Tuskegee men still living.
   “The chapters were established to pass on the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen,” said Ed Monroe. “We need young men and women to join to keep our legacy alive.”
   Every third Saturday of the month, the chapter has a meeting in Building 14 at Kennedy International Airport. There are 55 active members in the chapter, and anyone interested in joining will be welcome aboard.
   Right now there is a movie in the making about the Tuskegee Airmen, which will be called Red Tails and be directed by George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars. Closer to home, York College’s exhibit is open now.