Stewart Fulbright, Tuskegee Airman and business school dean, dies at 92

Stewart Fulbright, a trailblazing black educator who piloted a bomber during World War II as one of the Tuskegee Airmen and later served as the first dean of the North Carolina Central University School of Business, has died, He was 92.

His son, Edward, says Fulbright died in Durham, N.C., on New Year’s Day after a short illness. A funeral is planned for Saturday at Covenant Presbyterian Church.

About Stewart Fulbright

Born in Springfield, Mo., in 1919, Fulbright enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1943. He was one of about 1,000 men trained in Tuskegee, Ala., as the first black pilots, navigators and bombardiers in the U.S. military.

Stewart Fulbright worked at NCCU from 1947 until his retirement in 1982, becoming the first dean of the business school in 1972.

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About Tuskegee Airmen

From history.com:
The Tuskegee Airmen were the first Black military aviators in the U.S. Army Air Corps (AAC), a precursor of the U.S. Air Force. Trained at the Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama, they flew more than 15,000 individual sorties in Europe and North Africa during World War II. Their impressive performance earned them more than 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses, and helped encourage the eventual integration of the U.S. armed forces.

During the 1920s and ‘30s, the exploits of record-setting pilots like Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart had captivated the nation, and thousands of young men and women clamored to follow in their footsteps.

But young African Americans who aspired to become pilots met with significant obstacles, starting with the widespread (racist) belief that Black people could not learn to fly or operate sophisticated aircraft.

In 1938, with Europe teetering on the brink of another great war, President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced he would expand the civilian pilot training program in the United States.

At the time, racial segregation remained the rule in the U.S. armed forces—as well as much of the country. Much of the military establishment (particularly in the South) believed Black soldiers were inferior to whites, and performed relatively poorly in combat.