Tuskegee Airmen Exhibit Opens In Birmingham

By: Chris Pollone/NBC 13 | Alabama's13.com
Published: June 04, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.— With a few quick snips, several of the original Tuskegee Airmen opened a new exhibit at the Southern Museum of Flight in Birmingham.

Now visitors can see and feel the airplanes and uniforms used by a courageous group of soldiers who refused to give up their dreams of flying.

The exhibit recreates the image of Moton Field in Tuskegee.

That's where a thousand African American men learned to fly, and set off for war.

“Yes! It was real. It took me back to yesteryear,” Colonel Herbert Carter exclaimed after seeing the exhibit for the first time.

Col. Carter says the new exhibit should require a mandatory visit from every school in the state.

“Here were a group of young men that were visionaries who defied the odds of the century,” Carter said.

Museum director Jim Griffin says visitors will take several life lessons with them.

“It lets you know you can dream and you can become what you want to become in this nation, and that's so important, the Tuskegee airmen are fantastic role models,” Griffin said.

Colonel Carter added, “They had the courage and determination to say ‘teach me, give me an opportunity and then judge my performance before you reach the conclusion that because of my birth, the pigment of my skin, that I am an inferior person.’”

Mayor Larry Langford said he's planning to have a promotional video made about the museum and Tuskegee Airmen exhibit.

He wants to feature it on the city's website and at the airport for visitors to see when they arrive.

Tuskegee Airmen Exhibit Opens In Birmingham

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