The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories

[U.S. Air Force Academy interviews with African American graduates and officers]

Repository: U.S. Air Force Academy. McDermott Library Special Collections

Collection Description (CRHP): Historians at the U.S. Air Force Academy conducted a number of interviews with African American graduates and officers.

Topics include motivations for and consequences of segregation and integration; discrimination against military dependents; relations between black officers and white enlisted men; the role of the NAACP and other activist efforts; and flying experience at Tuskegee.

Origin Info: U.S. Air Force Academy History Department

Access Copy Note: Researchers may access collection materials at the repository by appointment.

Date(s): 1971-1977

Digital Status: No

Extent: 14 interview transcripts; 1 DVD; 9 reel-to-reel 7 in. tapes

Finding Aid: Individual finding aids available at at U.S. Air Force Academy Special Collections

Language: English

Related Archival Items: See also "Alan Osur: Integration in the Air Force" collection.

In 1968 the faculty of the U.S. Air Force Academy initiated a series of oral history interviews with significant figures in military aviation. The major topics discussed include strategy and tactics in World War I, World War II, and Korea, the establishment of the Air Force Academy, and inter-service relationships. Two series of particular interest deal with black people in the Air Force and the introduction of women cadets to the Academy. Transcripts are held at in the Columbia University Oral History Archives: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/oral/guides/air.html

Interviewees: Alfred C. Anderson, Charles V. Bush, Isaac S. Payne, Roger B. Sims, Samuel Curtis, Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., Idwal D. Edwards, James C. Evans, James P. Goode, Daniel (Chappie) James, Jr., Jack Marr, Hughie E. Mathews, William F. McKee, Noel F, Parrish, Lucius Theus, Spann Watson

Rights (CRHP): Contact the repository which holds the collection for information on rights

Subjects:

African American veterans
Discrimination in the military
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
United States. Air Force
United States. Army Air Forces. Composite Group, 477th

Genres:

Transcripts