Junior's studying — reciting theorems on airplane mechanics, navigation methods and gunnery tactics — led to this point. The exam results won’t just reveal his competence; that’s undeniable. The real question would be: Will it be enough?
This is the opening scene in the ROŪGE: Theater Reinvented’s production “TUSKEGEE: An Immersive Experience,” which follows the historic story of the first African American military pilots during World War II.
The production runs Thursday through Sept. 26 in a hangar at the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach.
“The issue wasn't simply whether they could fly, but if America would allow Black citizens to demonstrate that they could,” said director Sharon Cook.
The government in 1941 folded under pressure from civil rights activists to establish a program to train African Americans as pilots. Still, some people in the military hierarchy wanted the program to fail.
“That program is what became known as the Tuskegee Experiment," Cook said "And that name actually reflected the discriminatory premise behind it.”
The Black recruits were subject to higher education and piloting experience requirements, more rigorous training standards and regular hazing.
And still, they excelled.
“It's not just that they were the first Black men to do this. Because of the obstacles that they faced, they had to be incredible at their job,” said Jalen Lott, who plays the fictional pilot, Junior.
The Tuskegee Airmen lost significantly fewer bombers to enemy fire compared to other escort groups, according to The National WWII Museum in New Orleans website. They were feared and respected by the Germans, who called the airmen Schwarze Vogelmenschen, or Black Birdmen.
The real pilots that inspired the play’s characters were known by several names, such as Tuskegee Airmen, the 99th Pursuit Squadron and Red Tails.
Lott remembers watching the 2012 movie “Red Tails,” starring Norfolk native Nate Parker.
“At the time I was infatuated with the representation I was getting. You know, we have movies like ‘Top Gun.’ But for a little Black boy, that was my ‘Top Gun’.”
Revisiting the history as an adult means more, Lott said. Their courage, persistence, brotherhood and sacrifice for a greater cause inspire him to try and live up to that legacy.
“Maybe when we have our younger ones that come see this, we get to be that figure for them.
“It's really easy to look at figures in these black and white pictures and be disconnected from them,” Lott said.
But the characters, like their inspiration, are real and complex.
The men were very courageous, Cook said, but also very much human in terms of missing home, missing their loved ones and being frustrated with the system.
“They fought fascism overseas while experiencing racism at home.”
After 30 years teaching at Norfolk Public Schools, Cook sees herself as a mentor, educator and storyteller.
When Rosa Parks died in 2005, Cook was directing a show called “North Star” about the Greensboro lunch counter sit-ins of 1960. She came to rehearsals in a panic. When a hero dies, who keeps their story alive?
A cast member, who had actually participated in lunch counter sit-ins as a teenager, grabbed Cook by the shoulders and shook her.
“And she looked me in the eye, and she said, Sharon, you will tell the stories,” Cook said.
“I have been entrusted with this blessing and burden, 'cause it's a combination of the two, to ensure that stories like this don't die.”
She said you can inherit a world that dictates what you can be. Or, you can have the courage to imagine something different.
“The Tuskegee Airmen, they imagined something different,” she said, “and because they did, generations of us are able to imagine more for ourselves.”
“TUSKEGEE: An Immersive Experience," Military Aviation Museum, 1341 Princess Anne Road, Virginia Beach. Tickets start at $55. Visit rougeva.org/tuskegee for tickets and more information.