U.S Air Force removes course that included videos of Tuskegee Airmen, female WWII pilots
Lesson plans about the Tuskegee Airmen, groundbreaking Black pilots known for their service during World War II, and the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, the female World War II pilots who were vital in ferrying warplanes for the military, have been removed from the U.S. Air Force curriculum, a U.S. official confirmed on Saturday to CBS News.
The official confirmed that lesson plans for basic training that have to do with diversity are under review to determine if they comply with an executive order from President Trump that aims to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs within the federal government.
The videos were shown to Air Force troops as part of DEI courses they took during basic military training.
An Air Force official told CBS News: “Immediate steps were taken to remove curriculum that is now under review to ensure compliance with Executive Orders issued by the president. Historical videos were interwoven into U.S. Air Force and Space Force curriculum and were not the direct focus of course removal actions. Additional details on curriculum updates will be provided when they’re available.”
It was not immediately clear how long the review would take. CBS News reached out to the White House for comment.
The problem may not be with the historical videos themselves, but that they were used in Air Force basic military training DEI coursework. However, the lack of clearer guidance has sent the Air Force and other agencies scrambling to take the broadest approach to what content is removed to make sure they are in compliance.
Among the many executive orders since his Jan. 20 inauguration, Mr. Trump took aim at rooting out diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, programs within the federal government.
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The orders cut funding for so-called DEI initiatives across all agencies in order to “end DEI inside the federal government,” according to Trump administration officials. They also rescind previous executive orders and actions from past administrations that were designed to promote diversity throughout the federal government.
Mr. Trump said he will direct the Office of Management and Budget to end all related mandates, policies and programs across agencies — including all initiatives that aim to promote diversity, equity and inclusion within departments. He is aiming to restore what the administration considers to be a merit-based hiring system, according to officials and the text of the order.
In 2020, Mr. Trump recognized retired Brigadier Gen. Charles McGee, a Tuskegee Airmen who earned his wings in 1943, at his State of the Union address. McGee died in 2022.
The Tuskegee Airmen were founded in 1941 in Tuskegee, Alabama, when the U.S. Army Air Corp began a program to train Black servicemembers as Air Corps Cadets, according to the National Park Service. Instruction was provided by the Tuskegee Institute.
By the end of the war, the Tuskegee Airmen had completed 1,578 combat missions, and the airmen received some of the highest honors in the Army Air Corps.
Photo courtesy of the Tedeschi family via Getty
The WASPs learned to fly and ferry new bombers off the assembly lines to airfields where they were needed to ship off to war — freeing up male pilots to focus on combat missions overseas. They earned the right to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery just in the last decade.
contributed to this report.