Inspiration Knows No Gender

When the Dallas Texas Public Schools District decided to show its fifth-graders Red Tails, an action-adventure film based on the Tuskegee pilots who formed the country’s first black aerial combat unit, it was a tremendous idea. The district felt students would be inspired by the story of these men who fought segregation, integrated the Army and were trained as combat pilots for the United States during WWII.

But when district officials learned that the theater was too small to accommodate all the fifth-graders, they made a dreadful decision to only allow boys to benefit from the inspiration the Tuskegee Airmen offer. The incident became an example of what holds us all back.

A district spokesman justified the school’s decision by explaining that district leaders “thought boys would enjoy the movie more than girls.” Female students were given the opportunity to view the film Akeelah and the Bee, an inspirational story about a young girl who wins a spelling bee.

But inspiration comes in a variety of forms and speaks to us all in different ways. Making determinations along gender lines does not honor our unique interests and abilities; it only makes flawed assumptions.

Take, for example, Texas native Bessie Coleman [2], the first African-American woman to earn an international pilot’s license. She was inspired by the war stories of male pilots during WWI. She decided, in 1918, that she wanted to fly.

Coleman had grown up poor. She was educated in a one-room schoolhouse. As an adult, she longed to escape the segregated South for greater opportunities. But even in Chicago, the world around her determined that only certain careers would be open to her. She worked as a manicurist and as manager of a chili parlor, but she envisioned more.

She was denied entry into American flight schools because of both her race and gender. But Coleman saved her money, learned to speak French and, with the help of a wealthy friend, went to France to learn to fly. In June 1921, she earned her pilot’s license. She had a career as a show pilot.

A handful of other women had also earned pilot’s licenses. A decade before, Harriet Quimby became the first woman in the United States and the second woman in the world, to earn a pilot’s license. A French baroness was the first woman in the world to earn a pilot’s license in 1910. In 1929, the transcontinental air race was open to women for the first time. Twenty women pilots entered the race from Santa Monica, Calif., to Cleveland, Ohio.

These women found inspiration in the stories and dreams of others, often of different gender, race or religion. They rebelled against stereotypes. That’s inspiration that defies gender. As we enter Women’s History Month [3], we should remember that stories of courage and firsts are not to be categorized and prepackaged.

The Tuskegee Airmen, pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group in 1942. Photo credits: National Archives.

When we remember the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, we can also note that it was Mary McLeod Bethune, educator and sole female member of President Franklin Roosevelt’s “black cabinet,” who worked to make sure the Civilian Pilot Training Program was offered at historically black colleges and universities. In 1939, aviation programs were established first at West Virginia State College and later at the Tuskegee Institute. Bethune was also able to secure funds to expand Tuskegee’s program in 1941 with the help of her friend, Eleanor Roosevelt.

It’s important to share these stories with all of our students. They need to know that obstacles have come before and may come again. They need to learn despite naysayers, it’s still great to work toward a dream—even if no one who looks exactly like them has done it before. Inspiration has no gender. It has no race. When we witness courage, it makes us all stronger.

Williamson is associate editor of Teaching Tolerance.