History

Tuskegee Alabama was home to the Tuskegee Airmen, (the first unit of black pilots to fly for the U.S. armed forces) whose distinguished and highly publicized flight record helped pave the road toward complete military integration. Formed in 1941, the 99th Pursuit Squadron of the Tuskegee Airmen became the first group of black men to be formally trained in combat flying. They trained at the Tuskegee Army Air Field in Tuskegee Alabama and to this day are honored every year during the Tuskegee Memorial Weekend Fly In. The people of Tuskegee are extremely proud of their historic past and a large number of tourists come every year to visit Tuskegee University and Moton Air Field. Several movies have been made about the Tuskegee airmen, making them potentially world famous.

According to the City of Tuskegee Official Website, the city was founded by General Thomas Simpson Woodward in 1833 (incorporated in 1843). It is thought that the city is named after an Indian tribe called the Taskigis, one of several Native American tribes to have previously inhabited the area. The city has always been at the forefront of education and progress, housing the first law school in Alabama as well as several women’s colleges. The famous Tuskegee Institute, (now a university) was established there in 1881with Booker T. Washington as its first teacher. The first class consisted of thirty adults in a one room shack and the University now holds almost 3 thousand students. Some noteworthy contributions of the University: top producer of African-American aerospace science engineers in the nation, produced the first black winner of the National Book Award (Ralph Ellison), produces over 75% of black veterinarians in the world and it is the only university campus in the nation to be decreed a national historic site. Today the university consists of more than seventy buildings, nearly 3,000 students and a campus almost 5,000 acres in size.

Not all things of historical significance which occurred in Tuskegee were benevolent however. Between the years 1932 and 1972 the U.S. Public Health Service conducted what came to be known as the Tuskegee experiments. An estimated 399 black men were involved in a study concerning the effects of syphilis on black individuals. The men were not told the nature of the study they were participating in and were led to believe that they were undergoing treatment for a disease which was not explicitly revealed to them. Many of the individuals died from the disease or from complications caused by the disease. The Tuskegee Experiments are a black eye on the city and the medical community as a whole and a class action lawsuit was filed which led to a large out of court settlement for the families of victims.

Today the city of Tuskegee is the seat of Macon County and is home to almost twelve thousand residents. The city has several churches and historical museums as well as some recreational parks. It is one of the largest communities in an otherwise rural area. It seems that much of the agricultural landscape remains the same as it did when Ellison wrote “Flying Home” and one can expect to encounter much farm land when visiting the area. While the city itself has grown and become modernized, I expect to encounter vast stretches of farmland similar to the area Todd finds himself in after his crash landing.