Newton, NC – As part of a broad community effort, the Catawba County Library is helping bring Black Angels Over Tuskegee to local audiences at 7 pm on February 4, 2020, at Lenoir-Rhyne University’s P.E. Monroe Auditorium. The long-running, off-Broadway play highlights diversity and heightens awareness as it brings American history to life on stage.

The Tuskegee Airmen were a renowned group of African-American pilots, mechanics, bombardiers, navigators, and instructors within the Army Air Corps during World War II. Their service set the stage for the integration of the US military in 1948 and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

The library’s slate of January programs for children and adults traces the Airmen’s journey and includes STEAM programs, as well as a virtual reality tour of the Tuskegee Airmen exhibit at the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Dallas Love Field Airport. The library also invites elementary and middle-school students to sign up for a free copy of the biography Who Were the Tuskegee Airmen? and to participate in a youth book discussion group.

An audience favorite for more than 10 years, Black Angels Over Tuskegee poignantly tells the story of six recruits hoping to become Airmen, dramatizing their struggles for opportunity and dignity amid Jim Crow-era policies, revealing their individual histories, and communicating the excitement they felt over the prospect of serving America in the military.

As the play illustrates their progress in becoming Tuskegee Airmen, it also showcases the brotherhood they build, the dreams they share, and the hope they have for a country that rewards ability and achievement equally for all its citizens.

The library offers special thanks to all the community partners who helped bring Black Angels Over Tuskegee to Catawba County and add context to its presentation, including The Green Room Theatre, the Hickory Public Library, Catawba Valley Community College, Lenoir-Rhyne University, and local school systems. Further thanks is given for the generous financial support provided by David Walker, Bob and Michele McCreary, Piedmont Natural Gas, and grant funding from the United Arts Council of Catawba County.

Tickets are available for $15 each at www.thegreenroomtheatre.org.

To learn more about the Catawba County Library System or any of its programs and resources, visit www.catawbacountync.gov/library, call 828.465.8664, email [email protected], or visit them on Facebook.