Contact: Crystal Drake, Office of Strategic Communications
Tuskegee University launched its new intellectual forum series
Reliving the Black Renaissance: Celebrating History, Culture and Dialogue through Voices that Inspire this week with a conversation with Cheryl W. Thompson, an investigative reporter and NPR correspondent. The author of
Forgotten Souls: The Search for the Lost Tuskegee Airmen is the daughter of Tuskegee Airman William E. Whitlow, Jr.
The co-moderated was by former CNN reporter and George Washington University professor, Frank Sesno, and Kembriah Parker, a junior at Tuskegee and the first Black women to earn a pilot’s license through the revitalized aviation science program.
In his welcome to the event in the University Chapel, Dr. Mark A. Brown, president and CEO, pointed out how the original lyceums of ancient Greece where a gathering for all to learn from scholars of all disciplines to pass on knowledge.
“That’s what a university does – we exchange knowledge among scholars – and in our Renaissance we are doing the same thing, bringing scholars to exchange knowledge so that we can grow together,” said Dr. Brown.
Thompson’s book chronicles the untold stories of 27 Black pilots who vanished in combat in Europe during World War II. Thompson examines the lives these men led, why their planes went down, why all but two were never found and the impact their disappearances had on their families.
“These brave men were so young, from 20 to 28 years old, with the weight of the world on their shoulders, and so proud to fight for their country,” noted Thompson before saying “Kembriah, I know they would have been so proud of you and would encourage you to ‘pick up the torch’ as you and your classmates continue to write more history.”
Kembriah commented on the continuum of history that her achievements, and the current Aviation Science Program both represent, noting that it doesn’t always feel that way in real-time in the sky.
“When we are flying we have to be confident. As we continue to grow as pilots and into our careers, once it’s all said and done, maybe that feeling of legacy will come,” she said, adding that the Tuskegee Airmen stand as proof for her “that it was done once before so I know I can do it.”
“This event was just the beginning of conversations that capture cultural and historical context for our students as they explore intellectual discussions,” said Dr. Thierno Thiam, Senior Vice President and Provost.
In March, pre-law senior Alana Thomas, will moderate a conversation with Travis Mitchell, co-executive producer of the film “Becoming Thurgood." The film traces Marshall’s journey from his birth in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1908 to his formative years at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Lincoln University and Howard University School of Law to his groundbreaking career as a lawyer championing civil rights and dismantling segregation.
In April, Student Trustee Carrington Thompson will moderate a conversation “Leading in Challenging Times,” with three HBCU presidents, including Dr. Brown, Morgan State President and Tuskegee alum, Dr. David Wilson, and Benedict College President, Dr. Roslyn Clark Artis.
“These lectures will challenge our students with leaders whose experience and opinions will inspire them to explore academic discussions beyond the classroom,” said Dr. Thiam. “Tuskegee has entered its Renaissance Era and transforming how academic discussions are presented aligning with a history of empowerment and valuable dialogue on a campus where these discussions have been a part of the Tuskegee legacy.”
Thompson is an investigative correspondent for NPR. She also teaches investigative reporting as an associate professor of journalism at George Washington University. Prior to joining NPR in 2019, she was an investigative reporter for The Washington Post for 22 years.
She was named the journalism educator of the year in 2017 by the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ). In 2011, she won an Emmy award for a prison interview of a Chicago man sentenced to life for killing a police officer. She was also part of the team that won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting and received two Salute to Excellence awards from the NABJ, including one for an investigation into the killing of a 14-year-old by a Washington, D.C. police officer.
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