{"id":2422,"date":"2025-09-12T18:44:48","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T17:44:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/chstm\/?p=2422"},"modified":"2025-10-06T20:41:44","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T19:41:44","slug":"chstm-research-seminar-7-october-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/chstm\/2025\/09\/12\/chstm-research-seminar-7-october-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"CHSTM Research Seminar, 7 October 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ specialty=”on” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ next_background_color=”#1d1d1d”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ specialty_columns=”2″][et_pb_row_inner _builder_version=”3.0.47″ locked=”off”][et_pb_column_inner type=”4_4″ saved_specialty_column_type=”2_3″][et_pb_post_title featured_placement=”above” _builder_version=”3.0.106″ locked=”on” \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.6″ saved_tabs=”all”]<\/p>\n

7 October 2025, 4pm BST
Simon Building, Room 2.57 [maps and travel]<\/a>
Online Access https:\/\/zoom.us\/j\/99892131330<\/a><\/p>\n

Alan D. Meyer, Associate Professor, Department of History, Auburn University<\/h2>\n

Flying While Black: The Slow Pace of Racial Integration in the U.S. Airline Industry<\/h1>\n

Abstract:\u00a0<\/strong>Thanks to Black History Month, most school-age children in the United States have heard of the Tuskegee Airmen. We celebrate these pioneering aviators\u2019 impressive record fighting racial prejudice at home and enemy fliers in the skies over Europe. Yet few people today realize that none of the roughly 1,000 African American men who earned their wings at Tuskegee Army Airfield during World War II ever had a chance to fly for a major U.S. passenger airline after the war. Even as the postwar airline industry took off, piloted by thousands of white men who had learned to fly in the military, the airlines flatly refused to hire Black aviators who possessed the same training and experience as their white counterparts. It took the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which outlawed racial discrimination in employment, to pry open the cockpit door and allow African American pilots to fly for the airlines. And yet even today, a half century later, only 3 percent of all airline pilots in the U.S. are Black in a nation where more than 13 percent of the population self-identifies as African American.<\/p>\n

This presentation, based on my current book project titled Flying While Black, explores the slow pace of racial integration of the pilot\u2019s seat in U.S. airlines in historical perspective. From Jim Crow racism before, during, and after World War II, and continuing beyond the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to the recent past, my research examines how institutional and structural racism, economics, the military establishment, as well as various cultural factors contribute to the continued low number of Black commercial pilots in the United States.<\/p>\n

Alan D. Meyer<\/strong> teaches history of technology and aviation history. He earned his BA in history at Western Michigan University, spent eight years on active duty as an officer in the U.S. Army, then returned to graduate school to complete his PhD in American history and history of technology as a Hagley Fellow at the University of Delaware. Prior to joining Auburn’s faculty in 2009, Meyer worked for several years in Washington, D.C., as a civilian historian for the U.S. Air Force. His first book, Weekend Pilots: Technology, Masculinity, and Private Aviation in Postwar America<\/em> (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015), explores the intertwined relationships among technology, individual skill, and the construction of a gendered community identity. His current project, Flying While Black<\/em>, investigates the slow pace of racial integration in the airline cockpit from the Civil Rights Era to the present. Meyer is a longtime private pilot and a Smithsonian Research Fellow with the National Air and Space Museum, and he recently retired as a colonel from the U.S. Army Reserve. For more about Dr. Meyer\u2019s background and research interests, click here<\/u>.<\/a><\/p>\n

All welcome!<\/p>\n

Seminar Programme on the CHSTM Website<\/a><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav in_same_term=”off” prev_text=”Previous” next_text=”Next” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ locked=”on” \/][et_pb_comments _builder_version=”3.17.6″ header_font_size_tablet=”51″ header_line_height_tablet=”2″ custom_button=”on” button_text_color=”#ffffff” button_use_icon=”off” locked=”on” button_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_text_size__hover=”null” button_one_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_size__hover=”null” button_two_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_size__hover=”null” button_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_text_color__hover=”null” button_one_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_color__hover=”null” button_two_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_color__hover=”null” button_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_width__hover=”null” button_one_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_width__hover=”null” button_two_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_width__hover=”null” button_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_color__hover=”null” button_one_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_color__hover=”null” button_two_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_color__hover=”null” button_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_radius__hover=”null” button_one_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_radius__hover=”null” button_two_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_radius__hover=”null” button_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_letter_spacing__hover=”null” button_one_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_letter_spacing__hover=”null” button_two_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_letter_spacing__hover=”null” button_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_bg_color__hover=”null” button_one_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_bg_color__hover=”null” button_two_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_bg_color__hover=”null” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Related posts” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ locked=”on”]<\/p>\n

Related<\/h1>\n

Related posts:<\/h3>
<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>

CHSTM & History of Nursing Research Seminar, 18 March 2025<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a>
<\/div>

Rethinking Neurodevelopment: From WHO Policies to Neurodiversity and Care<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a>
<\/div>

CSSC and CHSTM Joint Seminar, 21 October 2025<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_sidebar area=”sidebar-1″ show_border=”off” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ locked=”on” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Connect Title” custom_padding=”0px||0px|” _builder_version=”3.0.90″ background_color=”#1d1d1d” module_class=”footer-section” prev_background_color=”#ffffff” global_module=”1611″][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” global_parent=”1611″ locked=”off” allow_player_pause=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on” parallax_1=”off” parallax_method_1=”off” parallax_2=”off” parallax_method_2=”off” parallax_3=”off” parallax_method_3=”off” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on” use_custom_gutter=”off” make_equal=”off” module_id=”footer-row” _builder_version=”3.0.89″][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Contact Us Title” global_parent=”1611″ background_layout=”dark” text_text_color=”#ffffff” parent_locked=”off” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”]<\/p>\n

Contact Us<\/h4>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Contact Us” global_parent=”1611″ text_text_color=”#aaaaaa” parent_locked=”off” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” module_class=”contact-us” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”]<\/p>\n

+44 (0) 161 306 6000<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Find Us Title” global_parent=”1611″ background_layout=”dark” text_text_color=”#ffffff” parent_locked=”off” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”]<\/p>\n

Find Us<\/h4>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Address” global_parent=”1611″ background_layout=”dark” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” module_id=”address” parent_locked=”off” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”]<\/p>\n

The University of Manchester
Oxford Rd
Manchester
M13 9PL
UK<\/a><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Connect Title” global_parent=”1611″ background_layout=”dark” text_text_color=”#ffffff” parent_locked=”off” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”]<\/p>\n

Connect With Us<\/h4>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_code admin_label=”Social Media” global_parent=”1611″ parent_locked=”off” _builder_version=”3.17.6″]<\/p>\n