Question: Why is it that you, a white guy are promoting Black History?
Answer: My own interest in Black History was sparked by the semi-nonfiction movie “Tuskegee Airmen”. It just blew me away. Though I had been interested in aviation since my baby teeth fell out, I could not believe that I could have lived to the ripe age of forty without ever having heard of them. Not once. Something wasn’t right about that and I felt cheated. My new interest led to a meeting with one of the oldest Tuskegee Airmen alive named Donovan Leighton, who further inspired me to go on and publish/republish a small collection of stories about them. The Tuskegee Airmen are a part of Squadron13 because they reflect my own personal interest in aviation and in history. It is a natural topic for me to cover and it would be fair to say that they are the biggest and original source of inspiration for this site.
Those stories now draw thousands of people to my site every month. In February of 2005, I noticed a large increase in web traffic to the Tuskegee pages and wondered what was going on. I’ll have to admit that I’m a bit embarrassed that I didn’t know about Black History month until then, but am tickled to death by the flood of traffic and couldn't be happier about it. I think that the “Tuskegee experiment” represents the birth of one of Americas greatest and most poorly recognized accomplishments. Something that Black Americans have a right to be proud of, but also all Americans. The people who defied convention and racist expectations to make that happen -- black, white or whatever pigmentation -- are true heros and deserve to be recognized and admired. I’m proud to do both."
(me!)
