Bipartisan support grows for Tuskegee Airmen memorial in Washington
Alabama's full House delegation and key Armed Services Committee members have co-sponsored the bill to authorize a Washington, D.C., memorial honoring the WWII pilots.
U.S. Representative Shomari Figures, D-Alabama, announced Wednesday that his bill to establish a Washington, D.C., monument honoring the Tuskegee Airmen has reached 56 cosponsors.
The legislation, the Tuskegee Airmen Memorial Act, would authorize Tuskegee Airmen Inc. to establish a memorial on federal land in D.C.
Bill cosponsors include 35 House Democrats and 21 Republicans.
Alongside Chairman of the House Committee on Armed Services Representative Mike Rogers, R-Alabama, and Ranking Member Representative Adam Smith, D-Washington, the full Alabama House delegation has co-sponsored the bill.
In a Veterans Day statement, Figures described the legislation as an attempt to honor the Tuskegee Airmen’s service in World War II and their role in desegregating the U.S. military.
“I’m honored to represent the over 40,000 veterans who live in the Second District, and I will continue fighting to ensure that they receive the support and recognition that they deserve,” Figures said.
“Our community has a storied military tradition and is home to the Tuskegee Airmen, who are among the most heroic and impactful service members in our nation’s history,” the congressman continued. “They played a pivotal role in the Allied victory in World War II and paved the way for the desegregation of our military. Their contributions and sacrifice deserve to be memorialized in our nation's capital.”
The Tuskegee Airmen marked the first group of Black military aviators and support personnel to serve in the U.S. Armed Services.
The airmen's achievements in combat and activism challenging segregation in military facilities pressured the federal government to desegregate the Armed Services through a 1948 executive order signed by then-President Harry Truman.
Figures’ office wrote that the proposed memorial seeks to “serve as an educational resource designed to teach future generations about one of the greatest, most well-decorated fighting forces in our nation’s history, and to highlight the important roles that Black military pilots and support personnel played in World War II.”
Tuskegee Airmen Inc. is a national nonprofit dedicated to preserving the legacy of the original Tuskegee Airmen and inspiring youth to pursue future careers in aviation.
Figures staffers described the legislation’s goal of authorizing the nonprofit to establish a memorial in D.C. as “an essential, required first step toward making this memorial a reality.”
Alongside the Tuskegee Airmen Memorial Act, Figures has introduced legislation to designate the U.S. Postal Service’s Tuskegee office located on North Elm Street as the “Tuskegee Airmen Memorial Post Office.” The bill, currently pending Senate passage, passed the House in September with full support from Alabama’s congressional delegation.
