In the early 1940s, the Tuskegee Airmen became the United States’ first Black fighter pilots, and their record in World War II was among the best of any fighter group.
The airmen are now military legends, their success on the battlefield helping to integrate the military in 1948. Now, the Marietta History Center is offering an intimate look at their lives during wartime.
Letters written by or sent to the Tuskegee Airmen while they served have been donated to the center by Cobb residents with ties to the airmen. Those letters and more are on display at the center through March 16.
“We specifically chose the Tuskegee Airmen [exhibit] because, not only does it highlight this important group of people during Black History Month, but also because there are so many people in our Cobb County community who have ties to the Tuskegee Institute, and airmen themselves,” Amy Reed, museum director, said of the exhibit, which opened last month.
Entitled “The Tuskegee Airmen: The Segregated Skies of WWII,” is offered by the center in partnership with Kennesaw State’s Museum of History and Holocaust Education, which provided a copy of the exhibit, Reed said.
It includes artifacts, including pieces of V-mail — short for “Victory mail” — sent and received by Tuskegee Airmen, posters displaying educational information and historical photos.
V-mail was a postal system used during World War II to reduce the space needed to transport mail by using microfilm to condense letters.
Credit: Zach Edmondson
Credit: Zach Edmondson
There are six copies of the same exhibit on display at schools, museums and other institutions all around Georgia, and one is permanently displayed at Kennesaw State’s history museum.
Alexis Pierce, an intern at Marietta’s history museum and a senior anthropology major at Kennesaw State, said the exhibit is something Marietta history buffs will want to see before it is taken down and moved to an elementary school in Rome, Georgia.
“It gives you background information that people don’t know about the Tuskegee Airmen,” Pierce said.
On March 19, the center will install its next exhibit, also from Kennesaw State’s history museum, titled “Enduring Tension: (En)Countering Antisemitism in Every Age.” That exhibit will explore the history of anti-Jewish bias in the United States.
Credit: Marietta Daily Journal
Credit: Marietta Daily Journal
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