BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                      HR 41


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          Date of Hearing:  March 14, 2016 


                             ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON RULES


                                    Gordon, Chair


          HR  
                       41 (Burke) - As Introduced  March 1, 2016


          SUBJECT:  Tuskegee Airmen Day


          SUMMARY:  Designates the 4th Thursday in March as Tuskegee  
          Airmen Day in California.  Specifically, this resolution makes  
          the following legislative findings: 


          1)The Tuskegee Airmen is the popular name of the very first  
            group of African-American military aviators in the United  
            States Armed Forces.  Prior to the Tuskegee Airmen, the United  
            States military did not allow African-Americans the  
            opportunity to become aviators.



          2)In 1941, Congress forced the Army Air Corps to form an  
            African-American combat unit, despite the reluctance to  
            initiate any form of substantive integration.



          3)In June of 1941, the Airmen were transferred to Tuskegee,  
            Alabama to receive training before they were deemed ready for  
            combat in 1943 and deployed to North Africa to join the 33rd  
            fighter group.











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          4)Under the exceptional leadership of Benjamin O. Davis Jr., the  
            first black man to hold the rank of general in the United  
            States Air Force, the Tuskegee Airmen broke barriers. 



          5)The Tuskegee Airmen earned their place in history by flying  
            over 15,000 combat sorties on 1, 578 missions during World War  
            II, proving instrumental to the liberation of oppressed groups  
            abroad while African-Americans still faced their own form of  
            oppression in the United States.



          6)After segregation in the military was ended in 1948 by  
            President Harry S. Truman through Executive Order, the veteran  
            Tuskegee Airmen went on to share their knowledge by teaching  
            civilian flight to other groups such as the black-owned  
            Columbia Air Center in Maryland.
          FISCAL EFFECT:  None


          REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:


          Support


          None on file


          Opposition
          None on file


          Analysis Prepared by:Nicole Willis / RLS. / (916) 319-2800














                                                                      HR 41


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