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Fabled airmen may help museum fly higher

Museum of African-American History officials hope the "Tuskegee Airmen" show brings greater attention.

By JON WILSON
Published January 28, 2007

"The Tuskegee Airmen," an acclaimed exhibit telling the story of America's first black combat pilots, has logged thousands of miles during its 10-year existence.

Saturday the show comes to the Carter G. Woodson Museum of African-American History for a three-month run that represents the museum's biggest effort to date.

It arrives as more than an intriguing tale about what was, until recently, a relatively obscure element of the struggle to subdue Jim Crow. The World War II aviators, who trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama, were pioneers in combat arms and in the overall black freedom movement.

The exhibit also is seen as the spark that could ignite wider, more intense interest in the museum, which has experienced its share of challenges.

"I'm hoping, praying," said Jennifer Howard-Black, the museum board member who is coordinating the exhibit.

Photos, pieces of memorabilia, vintage equipment, newspaper clippings and model combat planes, are among the items on display.

Several of the remaining airmen are expected to attend, mingle with the public and sign autographs.

Thomas Reilly and Lynn Homan, the exhibit's designers and curators, introduced "The Tuskegee Airmen" to St. Petersburg in 1997. The show made its debut at the city's Museum of History.

Since then, it has traveled through Florida and into the Midwest. It is on permanent display at the Mighty Eighth Air Force Heritage Museum in Pooler, Ga., just west of Savannah.

The Woodson museum exhibit will reflect a bigger exhibit set up differently and offering more detail, the curators say.

"We've never stopped researching," Reilly said. The curators also have written four books about the airmen, two of them for children.

The Tuskegee experience's effect on space exploration is reflected, as is African-American aviation history before World War II.

Among the early aviators depicted is Bessie Coleman, born in 1892, one of 13 children.

As a youngster she read widely and became entranced with the idea of flying. She couldn't find a teacher in the United States, so she went to France, where she earned her license in 1921, two years before Amelia Earhart. She was credited as being the world's only black licensed pilot.

Afterward, she barnstormed the U.S., giving lectures, participating in flying exhibitions and touting aviation education for black people.

While in Florida, she spoke to African-Americans in St. Petersburg, Reilly said. She died in an airplane mishap in 1926 in Jacksonville.

For information, call (727) 323-1104, or visit www.woodsonmuseum.org.

If you go

Getting airborne

What: "The Tuskegee Airmen," an acclaimed exhibit telling the story of America's first black combat pilots.

Where: Carter G. Woodson Museum of African-American History, 2240 Ninth Ave. S, St. Petersburg.

When: The exhibit makes its debut 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and will run through May 1.

During the exhibit, the museum will offer extended hours: Tuesdays 6 to 9 p.m. and Saturdays noon to 4 p.m.

The museum also is open 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Details: A film series about the airmen is scheduled for the Tuesday hours. School groups are welcome. Admittance is free; donations are welcome.

For sale: Artist John Silva will sell for $75 portraits of the airmen, with all proceeds to the museum. Wesley Moss, another artist, will sell African-American themed paintings in the $20-$60 range, with the museum getting a percentage.

[Last modified January 27, 2007, 21:46:13]