A Horsham exhibit that opened in June celebrates the achievements of the Greater Philadelphia Tuskegee Airmen chapter, whose members protected the pilots who were doing bombing missions during World War II, writes Ukee Washington for CBS Philly.

As the first African-American military aviators in the U.S. Armed Forces, the Tuskegee Airmen were fighting both in World War II and also back home against Jim Crow laws.

One of them was Maj. Bertram A. Levy, who died in 2020.

“It was a responsibility he had to fight for the United States and the promises it held for all, including African-Americans, who, at the time, didn’t have full access to the American Dream,” said his daughter, Sue Levy-Giles.

However, he did not take no for an answer and was finally approved to train as a pilot at Tuskegee Institute. Once he returned from the war, he continued to be a freedom fighter in Philadelphia, where he called out the hypocrisy of segregation.

In 2007, he and his fellow Tuskegee Airmen were awarded the prestigious Congressional Gold Medal.

“The reason they gave it to us was outstanding combat record,” said 97-year-old Eugene Richardson Jr.

Read more about the Tuskegee Airmen at CBS Philly.