They paved the way for the new President

Monday, January 19, 2009

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    Tuskegee airman Val Archer on The Takeaway (The Takeaway (cc: by-nd-nc))

Barack Obama has explicitly credited the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of elite African-American World War II pilots, for helping to pave the way for his presidency. Their performance in combat encouraged President Harry Truman to desegregate the military in 1948. All the surviving members of the group were invited to the inauguration and over two hundred are expected to attend. Val Archer, a Tech Sergeant with the Tuskegee Airmen, will tell John and Adaora what this occasion means to him.

For more on the Tuskegee Airmen, watch a clip of them in action courtesy of Youtube user Historystartsnow:

Guests:

Val Archer

Contributors:

Chelsea Merz and Nadia Zonis

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