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Juxtaposed against the study entailed above, another so-called “experiment” took place in Tuskegee, Alabama in the 1940′s. Unlike the former study, the subjects of this study knew exactly what they were getting into. They became known as the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African American pilots who were trained to fly combat missions in World War II. In further contrast to the earlier Tuskegee experiments, the Tuskegee Airmen were hugely successful, shooting down a total of 112 enemy aircraft in flight and helping the U.S. secure significant victories in air combat. In the segregated military of WWII, the Tuskegee Airmen also made strides in the battle raging in the country for which they were fighting, a battle for equality. The recently released movie Red Tails tells the story of the Airmen.

rom 1932-1972, 399 impoverished African American sharecroppers were allowed to live, and, in many cases, die with untreated Syphilis in what became known as the “Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment” in Tuskegee, Alabama. Run by the United States Public Health Service, researchers used their human victims to study the course of the disease.