The first graduating class of the famed Tuskegee Airmen.
(Chicago Tribune) TUSKEGEE, Ala. -- This is not a glamorous
city. Its glory days are long gone, though a handful of once-
fine mansions built before the Civil War are evidence that
"money" had been here. The drive 40 miles east of Montgomery,
the capital, on U.S. Highway 80, also known as the old Dixie
Overland Highway, winds through piney woods, passing an
occasional gray-weathered shack tucked back in the trees. In
Tuskegee itself, it's clear that the town is down on its luck,
with many houses in need of a face-lift and few stores or
businesses open. Years ago racial problems prompted prosperous
white-owned businesses to close and nearly all white residents
to move away. But half a century ago, during the civil rights
movement, noble history was made here. And decades before that,
the town was important because of the Tuskegee Institute, which
under the determined leadership of Booker T. Washington offered
an education to the children of former slaves,