I’ve met a few of the surviving Tuskegee Airmen. Their stories are amazing. Maury Reid’s is typical:
“He signed up before he finished high school,” said Yenwith Whitney, who trained with Reid at Tuskegee.“We knew very well for us to be in the Air Force there had been a long battle to overcome all the prejudices that existed,” Whitney said. “It was all black as far as trainees were concerned, but the man who commanded the base was white. He was committed to seeing that the blacks got the best flight training possible.”
Injuries Reid suffered when his plane crashed during a test flight prevented him from flying any overseas missions during World War II
Unable to fly combat missions Maury moved on to fight another difficult battle:
Maury M. Reid Jr. was one of the country’s first black combat pilots in World War II. But he was still fighting for the rights of black people long after the war ended.“He was a people person who believed in discussing a problem calmly and looking for a solution,” said his wife, Mae Reid. “He was adamant that if he paid his taxes and complied with all the regulations, he should have the same rights as everyone else.”
Maury Reid, 81, died July 4. He was born in Harlem, N.Y., and trained as a fighter pilot in Tuskegee, Ala. The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of black pilots who played a major role in desegregating the country’s military.
When he returned to New York after the war, he and his wife, Mae, were often denied housing and jobs because of their race, she said.
“People didn’t hesitate to tell you they weren’t going to hire you,” she said. “He was trained as a pilot, but airlines would not accept him for jobs.”
The Reids filed a lawsuit against the Hempstead, N.Y., school district when their daughter was not allowed to move from an overcrowded school to one with fewer students and more teachers. The Reids won their case. Then the school district said it would not bus students to the other school, so the Reids drove their daughter there every day.
It really is shameful that men like Maury were treated so poorly in this country. Thank god for progress and a political system that usually allows us to peacefully address our failures and set things right.
Related:
Wikipedia
