"I just couldn't accept…the segregation that they had down here." (Audio interview, 14:20)

Pompey L. Hawkins

War: World War, 1939-1945 Branch: Army Air Forces/Corps Unit: 99th Fighter Squadron, Tuskegee Army Air Forces Service Location: Chanute Field, Illinois; Keesler Field, Mississippi; Tuskegee Army Air Field, Alabama; Miami Beach, Florida; Jefferson Barracks, Missouri

Army Air Corps Lieutenant Pompey Hawkins was among the first African Americans to attend Officer Candidate School. While stationed at Keesler Field in Biloxi, Mississippi, in 1943, Lieutenant Hawkins protested the segregation of post amenities for the men under his command starting in 1943. Predating the nonviolent protests of the Civil Rights movement, Lieutenant Hawkins and his men lined up to make purchases at the Post Exchange, sat in at the post restaurant, and stood in line for tickets at the post movie theater. Protests against injustice were not always nonviolent; he was tried, and acquitted, in a court martial for fighting back when assaulted by the base commanding officer.