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Paired Texts > Tuskegee Airmen

by Jessica McBirney

2017

We've identified these texts as great options for text pairings based on similar themes, literary devices, topic, or writing style. Supplement your lesson with one or more of these options and challenge students to compare and contrast the texts. To assign a paired text, click on the text to go to its page and click the "Assign Text" button there.

8th Grade Informational Text 920L
Female WWII Pilots: The Original Fly Girls
  • Susan Stamberg
  • 2010

This article is a production of National Public Radio (NPR), written by Susan Stamberg. During WWII, a shortage of male pilots in the United States led to the formation of a group called WASP — the Women Airforce Service Pilots. Stamberg reports on this relatively little-known group, and its struggle for national and military recognition.

Pair "Female WWII Pilots: The Original Fly Girls" with "Tuskegee Airmen" and ask students to compare the stories of these two groups of WWII pilots. What challenges did each group face as pilots during and after the war? How did the public perceive their accomplishments?

9th Grade Informational Text 1280L
Black Soldiers in the Civil War
  • The National Archives
  • 2016

In the information text “Black Soldiers in the Civil War,” African American struggle for the right to fight as soldiers in the Civil War for their freedom.

Pair “Black Soldiers in the Civil War” with “Tuskegee Airmen” and lead students in a conversation about African-American military service. Ask students what experiences were shared between black soldiers in the Civil War and those in World War II. What motivated African Americans to fight for the country that didn’t support their individual freedoms? What does that say about human nature, as well as our ideas about America?

7th Grade Informational Text 1070L
Emmett Till
  • Jessica McBirney
  • 2016

This informational text explains how the murder of Emmett Till helped spark the Civil Rights Movement.

Pair “Emmett Till” with “Tuskegee Airmen” and ask students to discuss the events leading up to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. How did the events mentioned in both texts play into the national conversation about race and equality?

7th Grade Informational Text 1050L
How Jackie Robinson Changed Baseball
  • Jessica McBirney
  • 2017

In “How Jackie Robinson Changed Baseball,” Jessica McBirney discusses the life and accomplishments of Jackie Robinson, the first African American Major League baseball player.

Pair “Tuskegee Airmen” with “How Jackie Robinson Changed Baseball” and ask students to discuss how segregation and discrimination are challenged in the two texts. How did Jackie Robinson and the Tuskegee Airmen prove to the world that racial discrimination and segregation needed to end?

7th Grade Informational Text 1150L
The Legacy of Charles R. Drew
  • CommonLit Staff
  • 2017

The informational text “The Legacy of Charles R. Drew” explores the life and accomplishments of Charles R. Drew, an African American doctor who made incredible contributions to the field of medicine.

Pair “Tuskegee Airmen” with “The Legacy of Charles R. Drew” and ask students to discuss the discrimination and segregation that African Americans experienced during World War II. How does the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen compare to the legacy of Charles R. Drew? How did their contributions shape the future?

12th Grade News 1460L
PLESSY NEARS ITS END
  • The New York Times
  • 1956

The New York Times article “PLESSY NEARS ITS END” discusses the end of the monumental ruling that protected racial segregation until 1956.

Pair “Tuskegee Airmen” with “PLESSY NEARS ITS END” to provide students with an earlier example of desegregation in the United States. Ask students to discuss why the military was briefly desegregated. Why didn’t it last? What effect could this event have had on desegregation in the future?