The Guiding Principles Of The Tuskegee Airmen

There were six guiding principles the Tuskegee Airmen stuck to. These principles helped them accomplish great things. These principles were: Aim high, Believe In Yourself, Use your brain, Be ready to go, Never quit, and expect to win. The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African American Soldiers to enter the US Armed Forces. But it didn't come easy.

Leading up to WWll there had been no black men to serve as pilots in the US Army. Unfortunately, African Americans were only allowed in the Army to serve in segregated maintenance and labor groups. The Army Air Forces had rejected applications from all minorities. Simply because they believed different races working together in similar units was impossible. They felt that training African Americans for combat was too much work and an "experiment" not worthwhile. US Army leaders felt that African American participation would impact combat readiness and reduce morale. The Tuskegee airmen were determined to fight prejudice and change this system.

To serve the US during WWll. What hindered them from achieving this was the color of their skin, and racism that prevented African Americans from becoming pilots. The pressure was brought by the black press and civil rights groups on elected officials and changes were starting to happen. Eventually, an African American training base was established in Tuskegee Alabama. White leaders expected the program to fail and so the black soldiers still had to face heavy racism while receiving their training. Still, African Americans trained for many aviation roles and were soon declared combat-ready. After dealing with so much hate for being able to work alongside white soldiers, the Tuskegee airmen were finally starting to be recognized as professional