1 Janitorial Closet × 4 Years × 50 Weeks of Silence = Benjamin O. Davis and the Start of the Tuskegee Airmen
By Unknown Forty-Nine
Unknown Forty-Nine started less than a year ago with a simple mission: not necessarily to act as the ultimate authority teaching history, but to learn about African American Aviation History alongside you and share the history we uncover. Our motto drives everything we do: the more we share and talk about it, the harder it is to erase.
To think that racism is not an issue in modern America is completely ignorant. We see it happening in real-time, whether it is the current cabinet removing high-ranking African American military officials or the devastating use of executive orders to rewrite history. Issued in March 2025, Executive Order 14253 explicitly targets institutions like the National Museum of African American History and Culture to supposedly "restore truth" by defunding exhibits that acknowledge the harsher realities of our past. It is a coordinated effort to push a sanitized narrative of a "united" history while attempting to erase the very real, racist struggles Black Americans had to overcome.
And erasure doesn’t always happen via executive orders; sometimes, it happens quietly in the margins of tradition. When you think of military "tradition," you think of pride, loyalty, and the passing down of stories that only a selective group can share. Yet, we are seeing those traditions stripped away without a second thought. Take the trending story about the Blue Angels’ new uniform contract.
For 43 years, The Sewing Box—run by Mrs. Jellie "Candy" Whitehurst and built on the foundation laid by original owner, the late Master Chief Sam Miller—held the exclusive Blue Angels flight suit contract. For over four decades, they were trusted with military confidential information, crafting the ceremonial flight suits with the utmost respect and pride for the United States military. But this year, their contract was not renewed. Worse, Mrs. Whitehurst wasn't even informed or given the customary warning to submit a bid. Instead, the Navy awarded the new 5-year contract to a different company that will be paid roughly $200,000 more a year than the $127,000 one-year contract The Sewing Box was last operating on. It is just another quiet example of African American departure in American History, pushing out dedicated Black business owners who helped build the legacy.
Which brings us back to why we must remember our giants. A recently viral video featuring the great grand-nephew of General Benjamin O. Davis Jr. sharing the General's time at West Point perfectly illustrates why we must fight back against policies like EO 14253 that want to rewrite our history.
When Benjamin O. Davis Jr. entered West Point in 1932 as its only Black cadet, the academy tried to break him. He spent four years subjected to "the silence"—a coordinated shunning by his classmates who refused to speak to him, eat with him, or befriend him, purely because they did not want a Black man at West Point. Administrators knew exactly how he was being treated but did nothing to stop it.
The math of his resilience is staggering: 1 janitorial-sized closet to live in, multiplied by 4 years, multiplied by 50 weeks of agonizing silence every year.
They thought the silence would freeze him out. Instead, it forged an unbreakable leader. Davis refused to buckle, graduated in 1936, and went on to command the first all-Black air unit.
That 1 closet and 4 years of silence ultimately equaled 35,000 Black Americans applied, 1,000 pilots trained, and 14,000 ground staff empowered. It equaled General Benjamin O. Davis and the start of the Tuskegee Airmen.
History is not always comfortable, and it is not always just. But it is ours. At Unknown Forty-Nine, we will keep talking, keep sharing, and keep ensuring that the legacy of those who flew, fought, and sewed the fabric of this nation is never erased.
References:
Executive Office of the President. (2025, April 3). Executive Order 14253: Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History. Federal Register, Vol. 90, No. 14563. Document: 2025-05838.
Fuller, Haley. (2026, August 4). Navy Suddenly Ends 43-Year Blue Angels Uniform Deal with Florida Business. Military.com.
Davis Family Oral History. Testimonial from the great-grandnephew of General Benjamin O. Davis Jr. detailing his time at West Point.
Facebook Reference: Video Link
Instagram Reference: Reel Link
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