this piece that you see here is from a local newer lydian -- new orleanean. this is his aviator bag. he trained with the 332nd group, better known as the tuskegee airmen. we say he is the last surviving an from newrmen an orleans. however, he did pass away at age 90 just last month. we were sorry to lose him, he was a good friend of the museum. ng here with his barbershop quartet on his 90th birthday. it was very special. he didn't know this was here, he had seen the exhibit and was very proud of his service and of the museum. and of this display. the 332nd fighter group, tuskegee airmen have come to symbolize african-american participation in world war ii. however, only 992 african-american men were trained with the 332nd as pilots. were relegated to labor roles, to support, supply, transportation, and labor battalions. you see that in the navy, takes the form of stewards, mess cooks, in the army, it's , transportation and quartermaster roles. so this is the dress blue jumper of connecticut native lawrence anderson. he was part of the crew of the uss lexingt

the reason i am a new laura linney and -- new orleanean is is the only place they had a black high schoolmother graduated valedictorian in 1947. it was a place where it was violent to live. to see in this country, the greatest triumph of president obama's election was not what it did for african americans but what it said about the evolution of this country, to get rid of that sickness. and have my parents be like to see that, my father talked about how he cried when he sailed under the golden gate ridge going to the pacific theater of war thinking he would never see the country again, never see home again. as we drove into d.c. that night, the night before the inauguration, we drove around the mall. we were in tears because it was such a defining and beautiful moment for the country. my father was in laughter. i said daddy, what is going on, what are you laughing about? this is such a moving moment. he said, a black man is over all of this. he was having a ball. it was joyous. john: in your book, your honest to a fault about the subject of race. i wonder if you think in the course of his