Tuskegee Airman, Tuskegee Experiment: Cultural Impacts of Pride and Shame

By, Mosheh Adamu aka BFAP thaAnthropologist For some us the words Tuskegee Airmen do not go far without remembering the Tuskegee Experiment. It is very difficult to separate these two pivotal events in African American history. Anthropologically speaking, the questions I have, are how do histories of pride and shame affect culture, specifically HipHop (African American)? On one hand, we have the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of men who exhibited tremendous courage and pride while fighting foreign enemies in the air and domestic enemies on the ground. On the other hand we have over 600 people who became the source of syphilis in the African American community for generations as a result of the governmentsanctioned Tuskegee Experiment. While the story of brave fighters has inspired generations of people who are confronted with discrimination, oppression, racism and sexism to become airplane pilots; the systematic infection of African Americans between 1932 and 1972, has impaired generations of people with paralysis, blindness, dementia and shame.

For HipHop and all the other African societies, on the African continent and throughout the diaspora, oral history is stronger than any print, visual or digital media. Not only are folk tales, songs and poetry transcribed from one generation to the next, but entire histories of peoples, nations and events are accounted for as well. Other than just names, places and dates, historical particularism helps account for the emotions and feelings that are emphasized in storytelling and cultural development.

The Tuskegee Airmen have always been talked about in the barbershops, church services and one-on-one conversations with elder veterans who are still alive to tell these stories from their own personal experiences. More than the any media or public education source, oral histories is where the pride is really transported between generations. These examples help children and adults hold their heads up high with knowledge of the past that encourages them to move forwards in the faces of adversity. Educational systems (mainstream and independent) and curricula are instated to provide further encouragement. The good stories become the benchmark for Black History Month every year. The genealogists, family historian and black people who are interested in tracing their roots; uncovered these stories, simply by talking to the elders in their families and communities. These researchers have no problem extracting the prideful stories, but when it comes to the painful or shameful stories its always a family secret. The V.D. as it was so colorfully referred to was only the beginning of the battles with sexually transmitted diseases in many HipHop communities in the southern and northern United States. The definitions, symptoms and treatment of STDs are widely discussed in the health classes in both mainstream and independent educational systems. It is always the talk of the town, the beauty shops. Everyone wants to know who got what and from whom. In many cases, people who have and are infected will not talk about it openly and may even keep the information from their sexual partners. It is so shameful, that people will carry these secrets to their graves, allowing other people in the community to remain unaware of the dangers of sexually transmitted disease from a first-hand account. Although it is not known if any of the Tuskegee Airmen actually had syphilis, but it is very plausible considering the large base of infected people at the time. Keep in mind there were no positive treatments until the 1970s. Furthermore the stories and oral accounts will always focus on the courage and pride of these men, but if any one of them was infected with the disease, before or after the war, it will be kept as a family secret and not rendered to the historical or public record.

Where is the real historical lesson in that? If we are only feeding ourselves with joy, we are doing the children and ourselves a major disservice, because joy and pain are one in the same. Pride does not exist without shame. Yeah lets tell the children that there were great airplane pilots who fought in World Ward II, but lets also tell them about the history and origin of sexually transmitted diseases in African American communities. Lets tell the stories to install pride. Lets tell the stories to reduce shame. I leave you with the immortal words of the old skool R&B group, Frankie Beverly and Maze

Over and over you can be sure There will be sorrow but you will endure Where there's a flower there's the sun and the rain Oh and it's wonderful there both one in the same
Joy & Pain Joy & Pain (1980)