Chapter 66
Summary
- This chapter is from the perspective of Eleanor Roosevelt on a journey to Tuskegee, Alabama with Mary McLeod Bethune. The journey is filled with light-hearted humor and serious exchanges.
- Upon reaching the Tuskegee Institute campus, they have a tour of the institute and afterwards proceed to the Tuskegee Army Air Field, where they are greeted by a high-ranking officer, Lieutenant Colonel Thompson.
- Eleanor notices Thompson’s disregard for Mary, and introduces her formally. The two women are on a serious mission at the air field.
- They walk around the Army Air Field and hold speeches before the assembled African American pilots, delivering important messages about their roles.
- Despite Lieutenant Colonel Thompson’s disapproval, they insist on meeting the chief flight instructor, Charles Anderson, who is known as the first African American to earn a commercial pilot's license.
- Eleanor and Mary then explore the airfield with Anderson, learning about the intense training program for the pilots.
- Eleanor acknowledges the unfair treatment and resistance experienced by the black cadets at Tuskegee and asserts that's why they are present.
- They explore various aircrafts, including the P-51 Mustangs, with Anderson, while a line of female journalists (all part of Roosevelt's inner circle) watch and document their actions.
- Thompson attempts to order the journalists away, but Eleanor reveals they are there at her invitation. She then requests Anderson to take her for a flight in one of the planes, a notion which shocks both Thompson and Anderson.
- Thompson objects to this, stating that no white woman has flown with a black pilot before. Eleanor dismisses his objections and instead asks Anderson for his decision.