Flight: The Story of Virgil Richardson, A Tuskegee Airman in Mexico [Paperback]

Virgil Richardson blazed his own unique trail through the twentieth century: a co-founder of Harlem's American Negro Theater, 1930s radio personality, World War II pilot, and expatriate for most of his life. In Flight, this remarkable man tells his story in his own vivid words. Educated in Texas, Richardson set out for New York City in 1938 to build a career on the stage. Just when he was on the brink of success as an actor, World War II broke out and he was drafted into the army. After overcoming numerous obstacles, Richardson became a Tuskegee cadet in 1943, and later saw action flying over the battlefields of Europe. Upon returning to the racially divided U.S., he decided to move to Mexico, where he encountered a society quite different from the one he had left behind. Compellingly told and historically fascinating, this is the story of a determined individual unwilling to accept the limited options of Jim Crow America.

...A revealing look at an overlooked part of black history on the American continent.

- Booklist

In this skillful blend of memoir, oral history, and biography, Ben Vinson brings to life the extraordinary journey of an unusual and accomplished man. Actor, founder of the American Negro Theater, fighter pilot, radio personality, teacher, playwright, screenwriter, and author, Virgil Richardson comes alive in his own distinctive voice - his family, experiences, loves, frustrations, and achievements. Upon his return from sixty-three combat missions as a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen, Richardson found it impossible to negotiate the racial discrimination of post-World War II America. Having helped to liberate Europe, he now liberated himself by becoming an expatriate, living decades in Mexico, part of a small but influential black American community in the capital city below the border. This sensitive portrait of a man who contributed so much under such difficult circumstances illuminates the unusualƒ