Proposal

In this road trip, I want to engage in places and activities that relate to two related subjects: Ralph Ellison's love for jazz music and the Tuskegee Airmen that he wrote about in his short story, "Flying Home."

My final destination will be Tuskegee, Alabama, in order to investigate the Tuskegee Airmen from the town in which they trained. In Ellison's short story, a black pilot, Todd, is shown bearing the burden of representing the pride and legitimacy of all African Americans. While this may have been a bit of a stretch in Todd's mind, the concept of breaking through the extremely low glass ceiling in place for African Americans at the time was indeed what the Tuskegee Airmen stood for. This pressure proved maybe too much for Todd, shown in the way he was so worried that he would lose all respect after crashing his plane. He took his role as so much of a burden that his plane became his identity.

I'm naked without it. Not a machine, a suit of clothes you wear. And with a sudden embarrassment and wonder he whispered, "It's the only dignity I have..."
(Ellison, 209).

According to tuskegeeairmen.org, until 1941 African Americans were not allowed to fly in the military. The formation of the Tuskegee Airmen was a huge breakthrough in the civil rights movement, and became a sign of hope. I am interested in the pressure this put on the pilots themselves, a pressure that was clearly overwhelming to Ellison's character, Todd. For this reason I will be visiting Tuskegee, AL during Memorial Day weekend, the date for the 45th Annual Memorial Day Fly-In. I will spend the day at the Fly-In on Saturday the 26th, where there will be fly-overs all day, along with interactive exhibits about the Airmen (not to mention the wonderful carnival-esque) food options. However, what I'm most excited about is being able to meet actual Tuskegee Airmen. Unfortunately there are not too many still alive, but every year some of the Airmen are in Tuskegee for the festival. I want to be able to ask them personally what it meant to them to be the pioneers that they were. Referencing "Flying Home," I want to ask their opinions on what Todd experienced, and how they handled the significance of being the first African Americans to fly in the US military. For one, I would be fascinated to have a conversation with one of these men. It would also help me to understand what Todd was going through when he crash landed on the plantation.

The second aspect of my trip is something I am very excited about; I want to focus on Ralph Ellison's musical side. Ellison is known mostly as an author, but he actually went to the Tuskegee Institute to study music originally. Before college, he spent twelve years studying music at the Frederick Douglass School in Oklahoma City. Partial to jazz, and an accomplished trumpet player himself, a couple of his favorite artists were Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. He even incorporated music into much of his writing, including his most famous work, Invisible Man. Because jazz influenced Ellison so much, I want to be able to immerse myself in the music by going to jazz clubs every night of my trip (it doesn't hurt that I absolutely love jazz and am a trumpet player myself). I hope that this will help me to understand Ellison more as a person.