Military & Veterans' Issues

U.S. Air Force resumes teaching about Tuskegee Airmen and WASP following outcry over DEI review

Texas Public Radio | By TPR Staff

Published January 26, 2025 at 8:04 PM CST

RECORD DATE NOT STATED Tuskegee airmen Marcellus G. Smith and Roscoe C. Brown, Ramitelli, Italy, March 1945, Toni Frissell, Antoinette Frissell Bacon, Antoinette Frissell Copyright: xpiemagsx tonfripie12122022-33 ACHTUNG AUFNAHMEDATUM GESCHÄTZTNo Use Switzerland. No Use Germany. No Use Japan. No Use Austria — Tuskegee airmen Marcellus G. Smith and Roscoe C. Brown, Ramitelli, Italy, March 1945, Toni Frissell, Library of Congress

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SAN ANTONIO — The U.S. Air Force will resume teaching about the nation's first Black pilots, and the women pilots of World War II.

The Air Force paused that part of its basic training curriculum last week pending a review of its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies.

On his first day in office, President Donald Trump issued executive orders prohibiting DEI in federal government agencies and the military. Newly confirmed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth promised to make that a top priority.

By the end of the week, The San Antonio Express News first reported that videos about the Tuskegee Airmen and the Women Airforce Service Pilots — or WASP — were not being taught in basic training at Joint Base San Antonio Lackland.

Hiram Mann (third from left) was a member of the elite Red Tail pilots of the Tuskegee Airmen. Here, he's shown with his fellow airmen at Ramitelli Air Base in Italy in March 1945. That month, the Red Tails escorted Allied bombers from Ramitelli to Berlin, the longest mission in the European theater.

Tuskegee Airmen: 'Rock Stars' Of American History

The Tuskegee Airmen were the first nation's first Black fighter pilots who fought oversees in segregated units during World War II, leading the way to the desegregation of the U.S. armed forces in 1948.

WASP (from left) Frances Green, Margaret Kirchner, Ann Waldner and Blanche Osborn leave their B-17, called Pistol Packin' Mama, during ferry training at Lockbourne Army Air Force base in Ohio. They're carrying their parachutes.

Female WWII Pilots: The Original Fly Girls

The Women Airforce Service Pilots tested and transported military planes in the United States during World War II. As civilians, their work freed male pilots for combat oversees.

The news led to an uproar across the country — including from Republican Senator Katie Boyd Britt of Alabama, who called it "malicious compliance" within the DEI review.

After a weekend of protest on social media, the Air Force announced on Sunday that it's resuming that part of the curriculum.

Amen! We’re all over it Senator. This will not stand. https://t.co/Hii282f1d8
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) January 26, 2025

In a statement, Lt. General Brian Robinson said that one group of trainees had missed this part of the curriculum due to the review, but no trainees will miss this block of instruction.

For years, conservatives have attacked DEI policies as being reverse discrimination. Historians point to the legacies of the Tuskegee Airmen and the WASP as examples of how diversity has made the U.S. military and the country stronger.

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