Moton Field was the site of primary flight training for the pioneering pilots known as the Tuskegee Airmen, and is now operated by the National Park Service to interpret their history and achievements.

The field was named after former Tuskegee Institute principal Robert Russa Moton, who died the previous year.

Civil rights organizations and the black press exerted pressure that resulted in the formation of an all African-American pursuit squadron based in Tuskegee, Alabama, in 1941.

[1] The Tuskegee Airmen overcame segregation and prejudice to become one of the most highly respected fighter groups of World War II.

Tuskegee Institute laborers and skilled workers helped finish the field so that flight training could start on time.

Tuskegee Institute, the civilian contractor, provided facilities for the aircraft and personnel, including quarters and a mess for the cadets, hangars and maintenance shops, and offices for Army Air Corps/Army Air Force personnel, flight instructors, ground school instructors, and mechanics.

[1] In addition to the primary flight training at Moton Field, the following known sub-bases, auxiliaries, and an intermediate/advanced site were used: In late March 1941 Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, visited Kennedy Field in the Tuskegee area and was taken up in an aircraft piloted by C. Alfred "Chief" Anderson, Tuskegee Institute's chief instructor pilot.

The positive stories helped Mrs. Roosevelt, a Rosenwald Fund trustee, in conjunction with Tuskegee Institute, secure financing for the final construction of Moton Field.

[2] The first class (42-C), which included student officer Captain Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., began training on July 19, 1941. who served as Commandant of Cadets.

An oral history project, consisting of interviews of hundreds of people involved in the Tuskegee Experience, was completed in 2005 and will eventually be available to the public.