The Tuskegee Airmen heroically fought for the right to be fighter pilots in the US military so that they could help defeat fascism during World War II. However, after winning that battle, they faced their next great challenge at Freeman Field, Iowa, where racist white officers barred them from entering the prestigious Officers’ Club that their rank entitled them access to. The Freeman Field Mutiny, as it became known, would eventually lead to the desegregation of the US armed forces, forever changing the course of American history and race relations.
One Black officer who refused to give in to the bigotry at Freeman Field was James Buchanan “JB” Williams. JB grew up the son of sharecroppers, but his loving family and insuppressible intellect drove him to push boundaries placed on Black Americans in the early 20th century. JB’s devotion to the betterment of others took him from the classroom, where he learned to be a doctor, to serving as a medic in the US military and eventually joining the elite Tuskegee Airmen, where he fought to change the minds of all who believed Black men couldn’t make good soldiers. But JB’s greatest contribution came in his role as doctor and civil rights activist after the war, where he continued to push past injustices placed on Black Americans.