A Philadelphia Charter School Makes ''Red Tails'' Movie A Learning Experience
By John McDevitt
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Four hundred students from a North Philadelphia charter school attended a new feature film today and took part in a discussion about the legendary Tuskegee airmen of World War II.
Students of the Imhotep Institute Charter High School went on a field trip -- an "on-site learning experience" -- to the Pearl movie theatre, on North Broad Street, to view the movie Red Tails and talk about the topic.
"We wanted to show them the history of the Tuskegee airmen," says history teacher Curtis Davis (far left in photo), "and show them that blacks were involved in World War II and wars before that. And a lot of those stories are not taught in school, and at Imhotep we value African history and African-American history, so we definitely teach our children about all this."
Ryan McKinney, a junior, appreciated the underlying lesson.
"They rose above the racism, they rose above the stereotypes or the bigotry, and they became one -- not black, not white, but American," he said.
