How did the organization of Tuskegee Airmen get formed?
We didn’t start the organization until 1972. There had been a couple of reunion efforts in Detroit, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York — big cities where you’d expect a concentration of people — and people had kept in touch. But, the organization was started in 1972 as a Veteran’s organization. Four years later we amended our charter to be educational and charitable. Our focus has been to preserve our heritage and history and what it has meant to civil rights in our country, and to promote the opportunities for youth in our country in aviation and space. Ours is a very diverse country, but our diversity doesn’t show up in all areas of our economy and culture. So those two things have been our focus. We now have 44 chapters. This year our convention is in San Antonio. Next year, Memphis. Our national scholarship fund, which began in 1979 with five $1,000 scholarships going to needy youngsters leaving high school and going to college in an aviation and space career, is now up to 45 scholarsh
