Eleanor Roosevelt's Tuskegee Plane Ride (1941)
This Day in Esoteric Political History
Jody Avirgan & Radiotopia
4.6 • 982 Ratings
🗓️ 12 April 2022
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s April 12th. This day in 1941, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt took an airplane ride in a small plane piloted by Charles “Chief” Anderson, a Black pilot and member of the Tuskegee airmen.
Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss how the photo caused a sensation, and controversy — and helped bolster the case for Black pilots to serve in WWII.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from Radiotopia. |
| 0:07.0 | My name is Jody Avergan. |
| 0:10.0 | This day, April 12, 1941, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt hopped in the back of a J3 Piper Cub airplane and went for a flight. |
| 0:21.0 | There is a great photo of this moment just as she's about to take off with Eleanor Roosevelt |
| 0:25.8 | looking exactly like you would imagine Eleanor Roosevelt looks like. She's got that hat, you know that hat. |
| 0:30.5 | She's sitting in the back of a small open cockpit, great big smile on her face, |
| 0:35.1 | just behind the pilot of the plane. And who was the pilot of that plane? It was C. Alfred Chief Anderson, |
| 0:41.6 | and what was notable about Chief Anderson he was black. |
| 0:45.0 | This flight was taking place at the Tuskegee Air Field in Alabama and Anderson was a member |
| 0:49.8 | of the newly minted 99th Pursuit Squadron, |
| 0:53.4 | an all black unit that has come to be known |
| 0:55.2 | as the Tuskegee Airman unit. |
| 0:57.2 | Obviously, the Tuskegee Airman, very famous, historic, |
| 1:00.9 | but this smaller moment, the first lady sitting there being flown by a black airman |
| 1:05.6 | and a photo being printed in newspapers all over the country. |
| 1:09.7 | Really remarkable moment, and as you'll hear, it tells us a lot about |
| 1:13.3 | Eleanor Roosevelt and Chief Anderson and the Tuske-German and this moment in time. |
| 1:17.5 | So here to talk about all of that are, as always, Nicole Hammer of |
| 1:21.0 | Columbia and Kelly Carter Jackson of Wellesley. |
| 1:23.5 | Hello there. Hello Jody. Hey there. |
| 1:26.1 | Kelly should we tell listeners that if we start to if they start to hear more |
| 1:30.0 | air-related airplane related stories it's for a reason, right? |
... |
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