The Tuskegee Airmen was a group of primarily African American military pilots and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). The name also applies to the navigators, bombardiers, mechanics, instructors, crew chiefs, nurses, cooks, and other support personnel. The Tuskegee airmen received praise for their excellent combat record earned while protecting American bombers from enemy fighters. The group was awarded three Distinguished Unit Citations.
Macon County is a county located in the east central part of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 19,532. Its county seat is Tuskegee. Its name is in honor of Nathaniel Macon, a member of the United States Senate from North Carolina.
Franklin is a rural town in Macon County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 590.
Shorter is a town in Macon County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census the population was 385, down from 474 at the 2010 census. According to the 1990 U.S. Census records, it was incorporated in 1984.
Tuskegee is a city in Macon County, Alabama, United States. General Thomas Simpson Woodward, a Creek War veteran under Andrew Jackson, laid out the city and founded it in 1833. It became the county seat in the same year and it was incorporated in 1843. It is the most populous city in Macon County. At the 2020 census the population was 9,395, down from 9,865 in 2010 and 11,846 in 2000.
Tuskegee University is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on July 4th in 1881 by the Alabama Legislature.
Daniel "Chappie" James Jr. was a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force who, in 1975, became the first African American to reach the rank of four-star general in the United States Armed Forces. Three years later, James was forced to retire prematurely due to heart issues, just weeks before he died of a heart attack.
Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site, at Moton Field in Tuskegee, Alabama, commemorates the contributions of African-American airmen in World War II. Moton Field was the site of primary flight training for the pioneering pilots known as the Tuskegee Airmen, and is now operated by the National Park Service to interpret their history and achievements. It was constructed in 1941 as a new training base. The field was named after former Tuskegee Institute principal Robert Russa Moton, who died the previous year.
Alabama's 3rd congressional district is a United States congressional district in Alabama that elects a representative to the United States House of Representatives. It is based in east-central Alabama and encompasses Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Clay, Cleburne, Lee, Macon, Randolph, Russell, St. Clair, Talladega, and Tallapoosa counties, and parts of Chilton County. Cities in the district include Phenix City, Talladega, Tuskegee, and Auburn. Prior to the most recent redistricting cycle, the 3rd district had included parts of the state capital city of Montgomery in Montgomery County.
State Route 81 (SR 81) is a 10.432-mile-long (16.789 km) state highway in the central part of the U.S. state of Alabama. The southern terminus of the highway is at an intersection with US 29/US 80/SR 81 Truck in Tuskegee. The northern terminus of the highway is at an intersection with SR 14 in Notasulga.
Sharpe Field is a closed private use airport located six nautical miles northwest of the central business district of Tuskegee, a city in Macon County, Alabama, United States. This airport is privately owned by the Bradbury Family Partnership.
The 1959 NCAA College Division basketball tournament involved 32 schools playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's basketball in the NCAA College Division, predecessor to today's NCAA Divisions II and III, as a culmination of the 1958–59 NCAA College Division men's basketball season. It was won by the University of Evansville, and Evansville's Hugh Ahlering was named Most Outstanding Player.
Daniel James III was a lieutenant general in the United States Air Force who served as the director of the Air National Guard from June 3, 2002, to May 20, 2006.
William A. Campbell was an American pilot and military officer who served with the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II. He served as a wingman in the first combat mission of the Tuskegee Airmen, and rose to the rank of Group Commander of the 332nd Fighter Group shortly after World War II. He subsequently served in both the Korean War and Vietnam War.
Booker T. Washington High is a public high school in Tuskegee, Alabama. Its student body is more than 95 percent Black American and according to U.S. News 100 percent of students are economically disadvantaged. It is named for Booker T. Washington. The school mascot is the Golden Eagle. It opened in 1992 in a merger of Tuskegee Institute High, South Macon High School, and D.C. Wolfe High School. The school has faced declining enrollment.
The Tuskegee History Center, also known as the Tuskegee Human and Civil Rights Multicultural Center and Tuskegee Human and Civil Rights Museum, is in Tuskegee, Alabama at 104 South Elm Street. It was established in 1997 and is on the U.S. Civil Rights History Trail. It also serves as the official welcome center for Macon County, Alabama and Tuskegee.
Tuskegee University Legacy Museum, also known as the Legacy Museum is located at Tuskegee University in Kenney Hall at 1 Benjamin Payton Drive adjacent to the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care. Like the Tuskegee Human and Civil Rights Museum, the museum's origins stem from Bill Clinton's 1997 apology to the victims of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, formally known as the Official Proclamation by President William Jefferson Clinton against the misdeeds of the United States Public Health Service in its Untreated Syphilis Study in the Negro Male in Macon County, Alabama, 1932-1972. Clinton's apology first led to the creation of the University's Bioethics Center in 2006, and the museum followed in 2009.
