The Tuskegee Airmen

On our drive from Atlanta to Montgomery, Alabama, we stopped at the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site, the location of Moton Field where black airmen learned to fly during World War II. Before them, there were no Black military pilots.

 At the segregated Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama, 992 pilots were trained in segregated units from 1941 to 1946. 450 of these pilots were deployed and completed 1,578 missions. The Tuskegee Airmen earned a reputation as the “Red Tails.” 

P-52 Mustang with distinctive red tail, red propeller spinners, and red nose bands

They proved to be talented, disciplined and bold, contradicting the preconceived notions of most of the military brass.

Before the airmen could fly missions and escort bombers in Europe, they had to learn to fly. Flying lessons began at Moton Field.

The pilots trained initially in Piper Cubs, now on display at Moton Field

Later, the trained Tuskegee Airmen flew the
P51 Mustang in European combat

The airmen maintained one of the lowest bomber-loss records of any escort fighter group. The Tuskegee Airmen destroyed 112 enemy aircraft in the air (including German Me 262 jets), and another 150 to 250 on the ground, plus hundreds of motor vehicles and locomotives.

      The Tuskegee Air Unit was awarded multiple Presidential and Distinguished Unit Citations, and accumulated over 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses, dozens of Air Medals, Purple Hearts, and Bronze Stars. Their undeniable skill, discipline, and performance catalyzed President Harry Truman’s signing of Executive Order 9981 on July 26, 1948, which officially desegregated the U.S. armed forces. On March 29, 2007, the Tuskegee Airmen were collectively awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. 

Our Last Full Day In Atlanta

 After careful consideration of the options, Jessica and Erica commandeered an Uber driver to take them to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. This is a 30-acre urban oasis that features an amazing indoor tropical collection of Orchids, an enchanting canopy walk, and an iconic 25-foot sculpture of an Earth Goddess. The staff and volunteers were busy installing scarecrows for Halloween. 

Eric stayed close to the hotel and spent most of the time catching up on entries to this blog.

On our final evening, we went to 9 Mile Station, a funky restaurant on the roof of a nine story building. We wandered in a maze for 15 minutes until we finally found our way to the restaurant's first floor gatekeeper. We got in line behind ten other people, and then was informed we had to sign a consent (!?) to ride to the roof. We and at least ten others entered a freight elevator large enough to hold a small city, and up we went. Even when we reached the roof, the restaurant was difficult to find due to the many other rooftop activities.

All that said, it was wonderful to dine on the roof. The drinks and dessert were great. The rest of the meal was forgettable.

The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, Atlanta

Time Line:

1924, October 1: James Earl Carter, Jr. is born.

1946, June 5: Jimmy Carter graduates with distinction from the Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland.

Ensign Carter serves on the USS Wyoming and the USS Mississippi for two years, and volunteered to serve two more years on the submarine USS Pomfret.

Admiral Hyman G. Rickover selected Carter for the elite developing nuclear propulsion program. He was assigned to Schenectady, New York where he took graduate courses in nuclear engineering and nuclear physics. He worked on nuclear propulsion design for the Atomic Energy Commission. He worked on the design team for the pre-conditioning crew of the nuclear powered USS Seawolf.

1953, July: Lieutenant Carter resigned his commission and left active duty in October 1953, ending his promising career in the Navy. His father had died of cancer. Carter made the decision to return to Plains, Georgia to manage the family peanut farm.

A day at the office

Politics:

After returning to Plains, Jimmy Carter served on boards, including the Sumpter County Board of Education, later serving as its chairman. He won the State Senate race after a contentious election and served from 1963 to 1967.

In 1970, Carter was elected Governor of Georgia. Of note, Jimmy Carter stated in his inaugural address that the time for racial segregation was over. He served as governor from 1971 to 1975.

In 1976, Governor Carter was a dark-horse candidate for the Presidency of the United States against an incumbent. He won!

President Carter's greatest foreign policy accomplishment was negotiating the historic Camp David accords leading to the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel which remains in effect today. The biggest problems during his four years were the Iran hostage crisis and stagflation, an unusual combination of inflation and recession.

A day at the office

Much of President Carter's best work was done after his presidency. In 2002, he won the Nobel Peace Prize "for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development."

The National Center for Civil and Human Rights, Atlanta

While there are numerous institutions have explored the Civil Rights struggle, the National Center for Civil and Human Rights (NCCHR) explores both with an emphasis of the historic and thematic connections between the two. In so doing, the Civil Rights movement is considered in the context of worldwide struggles and actions for Human Rights.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was passed on December 10, 1948 as the General Assembly resolutions 217A by the United Nations. A description of the UN document can be found here. A room in the NCCHR is dedicated to delving into these Human Rights and the tragedy of lack of enforcement.

There is so much more, far too much to cover in this blog. The Freedom Riders exhibit honors the multiracial young people, many of them college students, who put their lives on the line in 1961. A lunch counter protest simulation lets visitors absorb how much violence and intimidation the protesters experienced. There is a special exhibit devoted to the 1963 March on Washington where MLK delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech.

Quarter million of us on August 28, 1963

The Problem We All Live With by Norman Rockwell

The artwork of Norman Rockwell was regularly published in the Saturday Evening Post for 43 years. However, the publication had a strict editorial policy that black people could only be shown in subservient roles such as maids or laborers. His last entry in the Saturday Evening Post was a portrait of John F. Kennedy on the cover in December 1963. Frustrated by the policy, Mr. Rockwell moved to Look Magazine under the condition that he would have complete publication autonomy. The painting depicting Ruby Bridges walking to Elementary School in New Orleans escorted by U.S. Marshalls was published as the two page centerfold in the January 1964 issue of Look Magazine. 

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change

WE WILL NOT BE SATISFIED
UNTIL JUSTICE ROLLS DOWN LIKE WATER
AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
LIKE A MIGHTY STREAM

 

Crypts of MLK and CSK

A long reflecting pool done right

Between the two churches stands the Behold Monument by Patrick Morelli commemorating the historic principles that guided the works of Dr. King.

Behold the only thing greater than you

Also inscripted are the words

DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. FOR HIS MORAL COURAGE AND NOBILITY OF SPIRIT

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, also known as the King Center, is located next to the old Ebenezer Church and across the street from the new Ebenezer Church.

The Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta

The old Auburn Avenue church since 1922 

 In the First Book of Samuel (1 Samuel 7:12), the prophet Samuel sets up and names a large stone Ebenezer.  The stone served as a lasting reminder to celebrate God helping the Israelites to defeat the Philistines. The name Ebenezer has since been adopted as a symbol of God's help and guidance for this and many other houses of worship.

The church was founded in 1886 with thirteen members. It is now categorized as a megachurch with roughly 6,000 weekly attendees. After a few iterations, a much larger church has been created across the street from the Auburn Avenue church. This new building has a new name, the Heritage Sanctuary. The old Auburn Avenue church has been named the Horizon Sanctuary. Both sanctuaries, the house where Martin Luther King, Jr. was born, where he lived, and where he is buried are included in the 39-acre Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park.

Reverend and Senator Raphael Warnock is the senior pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. He frequently returns to Atlanta to give Sunday services. Today, we had the opportunity to hear the sermon of guest preacher, Dr. Thema, Bryant. 

Dr. Bryant received her doctorate in clinical psychology at Duke University, and completed post-doctoral training at Harvard Medical Center's Victims of Violence Program. She is currently serves as a tenured professor at Pepperdine University, and is a former President of the American Psychological Association. Furthermore, she gives a barnburner of a sermon. The topic of her sermon was Trauma, in its broadest sense, including the response to the most distressing and life-threatening events that overwhelm the ability to cope.

The Journey Begins

Today we begin our Civil Rights journey by traveling to Atlanta. After a brief morning walk in Hendersonville, we embarked upon our short trip to Atlanta. We stopped to charge the EV just outside of Atlanta so we would have a "full tank" at our destination. Meanwhile, Jessica's sister Erica caught a flight from SFO to Atlanta to join us for our journey. We called it a day after dinner. Tomorrow is another day.

The Carl Sandburg Home

 

As a poet and biographer, Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) won three Pulitzer prizes. He won two for poetry, and one for history (Abraham Lincoln: The War Years.)

He and his wife Paula chose to escape the Chicago climate by moving to Hendersonville, North Carolina. In 1945, they bought the home they would remain in for the rest of his life. Here, Mr. Sandburg could devote himself to his writing, and Paula could pursue her many interests, especially raising goats on the farm.

There was nothing pretentious about their home. It housed 12,000 books and current issues of numerous issues of newspapers and publications.

Paula kept meticulous files profiling the pedigree of her hundreds of goats. It was a working home, designed around each of their pursuits.

Carl Sandburg died on July 22, 1967 in the company of his wife in her bedroom. His last word was reported to be "Paula." The next year, Paula sold the home as a National Historic site under the condition that the furnishings would remain exactly as they were. Even a cigar butt remains in the ashtray. The United States Department of the Interior has designated roughly 15 goats as a historic herd, descendants of Paula's goats.

Day 2 continued, to Hendersonville, North Carolina

 With the Pink Cadillac in the rearview mirror, we continue our trek south toward Hendersonville, NC to visit our friends, Meg and Irwin. We were close friends in Cleveland. Then they moved to Hendersonville about five years ago. We arrived in time for dinner, and what a spread they had prepared, much of it grown in their garden.

Fresh veggies and BBQ chicken and swordfish shish kabob

Day 2, to Lexington, Virginia

 Why Lexington, Virginia? Eric's first friend in the sixth grade now lives in Lexington. So, we headed east into the rising sun toward Lexington.

We met him for breakfast at the Pink Cadillac Diner, an institution just south of Lexington. It was great getting together with an old friend and talk about times gone by.

We are in front of the Pink Cadillac Diner

Today is the day we embark on our civil rights tour of the southern United States. We will be visiting friends along the way.  Our car is loaded with everything we need for our three week journey. Today, we head due south through Akron and Canton, southeast Ohio, and into West Virginia where we will spend the night in Lewisburg, just west of the Virginia border. If you should find yourself in Lewisburg for some reason, we highly recommend the Stardust Cafe. Make a point of trying the Forever Curry Chicken.