You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen

You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen
by Carole Boston Weatherford (Author) and Jeffery Boston Weatherford (Illustrator)

Award-winning author Carole Boston Weatherford’s innovative history in verse celebrates the story of the Tuskegee Airmen: pioneering African-American pilots who triumphed in the skies and past the color barrier.

From training days in Alabama to combat on the front lines in Europe, this is the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the groundbreaking African-American pilots of World War II. In vibrant second-person poems, Carole Boston Weatherford teams up for the first time with her son, artist Jeffery Weatherford, in a powerful and inspiring book that allows readers to fly, too.

#kidlit Writing Lesson: the small details

For today’s Book of the Day, a “behind-the-scenes” book launch day interview with award-winning author Carole Boston Weatherford!

Q. Why did you this select this topic?
A. I first learned of the Tuskegee Airmen in magazine article in the early 1980s. About 15 years ago, my family visited Tuskegee University and toured National Park Service exhibits about founder Booker T. Washington, botanist George Washington Carver, and the Tuskegee Airmen. The Airmen’s story spoke to me because it was a war-time adventure, but it was touched on social justice issues. In addition, the story connected me to my father, who was drafted into the Army shortly after high school graduation. He served in the Pacific Theatre during World War II and passed away in 1997.

Q. How did you research the topic?
A. For starters, I did lots of picture research to get a feel for the World War II era. I searched online image collections at the Library of Congress, National Archives, U.S. Air Force Museum, and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library. I found a wealth of photos that immersed me in the period. I also read primary source documents. One document barred blacks from becoming officers over white troops and limited black troops to support personnel. Another document was the 1948 executive order signed by President Harry Truman, desegregating the U.S. Armed Forces. I also read several reference books and viewed documentaries about the Tuskegee Airmen.

Find lesson plans and links to primary sources on the You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen Teacher Resources page.

Crew chief Marcellus G. Smith, Louisville, KY, 100th F.S., Ramitelli, Italy, 1945.

Q. Describe your writing process.
A. My early drafts were for a picture book manuscript about the Airmen. The text was a book-length poem written in second person. I could not find a publisher and shelved the project for a few years. When I revisited it, I reshaped it as a poetry collection for middle grades-up. I experimented with point of view, shifting from third person to first person and titling it “the Last Tuskegee Airmen Tells All.” Ultimately, second person prevailed. The voice felt more authentic and the flow more natural in second person. The only constant throughout the writing process was the present tense. That lent immediacy to the action. The hardest poems to write about flight training flights and bombing missions. Choreographing the battles was challenging.

Q. How was it collaborating with your son?
A. It was a gift working with Jeffery on this project. I shared my picture research with him, but he also did his own. We put our heads together and decided that scratchboard was the best medium for the subject matter. At first, Jeff showed me individual illustrations as he completed them. Then, he showed me batches of illustrations. By the end, however, he was bypassing me and sending illustrations directly to the publisher. I am pleased with how the art turned out. Creating a new book is like birthing a child. I take special pride in You Can Fly because Jeffery and I brought it to life together.