Tuskegee Airmen's legacy is focus of immersive flight exhibit at Islip Arts Council

Educating visitors about the groundbreaking legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen is the focus of an immersive exhibit on flight hosted by the Islip Arts Council. 

Inspired by the renowned “Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience,” where art is projected onto walls and screens, the exhibit in Bay Shore will highlight the history of flight and the Tuskegee Airmen through images, videos, interview clips and narration compiled by local artists. The exhibit is part of the center's Black History Month celebrations.

“Above all, we want to be able to educate our youth about the heroism and the sacrifice" of these airmen and "what they went through, for our country,” said Waldo Cabrera, president of the arts council and a videographer who contributed footage to the exhibit. The goal is also for visitors to have fun and enjoy learning about flight, he added. 

The Tuskegee Airmen were the first all-Black air unit that served in the segregated military of World War II. Between 1941 and 1946, around 1,000 Black pilots graduated from the program at the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama, including five from Long Island. The group had one of the lowest loss records of all escort fighter groups and distinguished themselves multiple times throughout the war.

Reynard Burns, who is on the arts advisory council and composed some of the music for the exhibit, said he hopes visitors will walk away with an understanding of who the Tuskegee Airmen were, “what their significance was [and the] particular challenges that they were up against, going into something that said, ‘You cannot come here.’ ” 

Burns, who is also public relations officer of Claude B. Govan Tri-State Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen Inc., highlighted the racism the airmen faced in the U.S. military at the time. People should know “they had a continual struggle, right up until the end of the war,” he said. Burns also compiled interviews and historical data on the Tuskegee Airmen for the exhibit.

The exhibit will run through March 11 in a black box theater formerly used as a nail salon at the Westfield South Shore mall in Bay Shore, according to council executive director Lynda Moran. 

A large screen will display a film about the Tuskegee Airmen, interspersed with “visions of flight from various artists’ eyes,” said Moran, with forms of video and art from participating artists. There will also be origami art hanging in the theater with simulated clouds created by a machine.

According to Moran, the large movie screen will display an ongoing educational film on loop. The producer used material from historical vignettes, interviews, videos, still photographs and art, along with music and sound effects, she said.

The exhibit is free to view with limited seating available. Visitors do not need to register in advance. 

Moran said the immersive project was made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant Program, which is managed by the New York State Council on the Arts. The funds were administered by the Huntington Arts Council.

The project was also partially funded by Suffolk County. 

The Islip Arts Council is hosting several other events to honor Black History Month, including musical concerts at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum and an exhibit featuring work from Black artists. 

By Brianne Ledda

brianne.ledda@newsday.com@brianne_ledda

Brianne Ledda covers personal finance and affordability for Newsday. She previously covered Southold and Greenport for The Suffolk Times and is a graduate of Stony Brook University.