Remembering All Our Heroes

By Jillian Daley

North Marion High School Social Studies Teacher Kira Barber chose to focus on the Tuskegee Airmen during Black History Month this February to get students excited about learning.

“I have always been interested in flying,” Barber says, “and the only way to get kids interested in learning is to find something interesting for them to learn.”

Barber isn’t kidding about loving flying. She considered becoming a pilot during the three years she spent in the Marine Option Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) while earning a double Bachelor of Science degree in Education and Political Science at Oregon State University. 

Considering her own fascination with flight, Barber thought her students might be captivated by some of the airborne heroes of World War II. Also, while she regularly incorporates diversity into her lessons, she wanted to spotlight African-American historical figures in honor of Black History Month. 

So she chose to teach her class about the Tuskegee Airmen: the first Black military aviators in the U.S. Army Air Corps, an early version of the U.S. Air Force. Her military teaching tactic worked. The men’s bravery as contrail trailblazers earned them the respect of her students, including ninth-grader Peter Crosby.

“I liked how they were the first and how they stood up for their rights,” Crosby says.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt listened to the advice of civil rights leaders, and in 1941, a group of Black men began pilot training at the Tuskegee Army Air Field in Tuskegee, Alabama. Yet Black service members were segregated into second-rate facilities — and given slower aircraft than other pilots, a distinct disadvantage in an aerial conflict. Regardless, almost 1,000 of these courageous pilots flew 15,000 sorties (a sortie is a type of attack) from May 1943 to June 1945.

An Interest in Fairness

Tenth-grader Christian Flores says that people like the Tuskegee Airmen pushing back against injustice had a lasting impact.

“I think that the world is probably more fair now,” Flores says.

However, there is room for improvement.

Ninth-grader Naomi Soto-Diaz says that, when it comes to Black history, “we could talk about it a little bit more” and be “more open about” the past. 

Her classmate, ninth-grader Alexis Jaquez, agrees that the history of Black people should be remembered and celebrated, just as all important history is.

“I think it’s good to talk about it, how they were treated — and finally give them the recognition they deserve,” Jaquez says.

A Current Take on History

Ninth-graders Allison Brewer and Riley Sanchez-Avendano may have a different experience than many other students. Brewer’s aunt and Sanchez-Avendano’s brother are both in the military right now, and Russia just invaded Ukraine. 

They both have been thinking about their loved ones potentially joining an armed conflict while studying a piece of military history.

“It’s scary because my brother’s already in Europe,” says Sanchez-Avendano, whose 20-year-old brother, Cainan, is in the U.S. Army. “I’ve just been having to come to the realization that he was going to go his own way.”

Brewer says her aunt is in the U.S. National Guard and is stationed in Europe.

“It’s pretty nerve-wracking,” she says.

But they both agree that, whatever is going on in their lives, Barber makes history interesting with activities such as watching a movie clip about the Tuskegee Airmen, creating a poster about one of the pilots, and experiencing life in the trenches via video simulation. 

“Personally, I don’t like history, but she brings it to us in a way that I still like,” Sanchez-Avendano says.

That’s exactly what Barber had in mind.

To share a story on the North Marion School Board, email Communications Specialist Jillian Daley at jillian.daley@nmarion.k12.or.us.