Thursday, October 1, 2026
About 50 people gathered at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Uniondale on Feb. 13 for a public screening of a behind the scenes documentary honoring the life and legacy of Calvin Moret, a highly decorated World War II veteran and the last surviving Tuskegee Airman born in Louisiana.
The event, supported by the Latino Civic Association of Long Beach, drew attendees from across Nassau County, including several from Long Beach with personal ties to the Tuskegee Airmen’s legacy.
Among them was James Hodge, the Long Beach Herald’s 2008 Person of the Year, who wore the Tuskegee Airmen jacket of Julius Freeman — a medic whom Hodge considered more than a friend. “He was like my grandfather.”
The jacket served as a visible reminder of the enduring connections between Long Island residents and the historic group of Black military aviators across America.
The evening featured a 20-minute preview of a forthcoming documentary by filmmaker Amy Serrano, who spent the last three years documenting Moret’s life, until his death in 2015. He was 90.
“I think that the Tuskegee story is like many stories that’ve been forgotten about in history,” Hodge said. “I believe, truly, that people replicate what they see and when people can look at people that’ve made significant impacts in America, and to the world.
It’s about so many hidden stories. So many hidden inventions, because people were simply Black. It’s simple as that,” he reflected.
“Mr. Moret was also a gentleman who had been responsible for desegregating the barbershop quartets of the South,” Serrano said in her documentary. “While he had been one of 900 men desegregating the air forces.”
Deputy Director Catherine Gonzalez said the museum strives to preserve aviation history while inspiring future generations.“It is always fitting when we have opportunities to recognize and commemorate trailblazers in aviation history,” she said.
The Tuskegee Airmen were the first Black military pilots in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. They trained at Moton Field and Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama. Moret was one of nearly 1,000 Black pilots completed the program, and more than 450 went on to serve in combat, flying missions that escorted bombers over Europe and North Africa.
Despite facing discrimination within the military, the airmen compiled an impressive combat record that helped challenge racist assumptions about Black servicemen’s capabilities. Their service contributed to President Harry Truman’s Executive Order 9981 in 1948, which desegregated the U.S. armed forces.
Yet their heroism abroad did not shield them from racism at home. Many returned to segregated communities governed by Jim Crow laws and faced discriminatory barriers to housing and education benefits under the G.I. Bill — exclusions that historians say contributed to the racial wealth gap that persists today.
“Despite all that Mr. Moret was subjected to in terms of racism and discrimination during in the Jim Crow South,” Serrano said. “He would call it the contagion of ignorance, the way that people behaved to treat other people in the way that they did.
And he never let himself be contaminated by the way he was treated. He believed that all of us were born with love in our hearts.”
In April 1945, 101 Black officers from the 477th Bombardment Group were arrested at Freeman Field, Indiana, after peacefully attempting to enter an all-white officers’ club — an act of resistance widely viewed as a precursor to the Civil Rights Movement.
Serrano described being “transfixed” the first time she heard him recount serving overseas and then navigating segregation upon his return.
“Mr. Moret was a kind, fair and loving man,” Serrano said. “And believed in a better world, just like we do.” noting that Moret relied on the “Green Book” to travel safely through segregated states after the war.
She also explained that Moret believed children were not born racist. They were turned that way.
In archival footage shown during the screening, Moret urged young people to seek wisdom from elders.
“Old people have had experiences that you won’t get out of a book,” Moret said. “That’s why I strongly recommend that young people attach themselves to some old people because they will get some insight into values.”
After the screening, a special Q&A took place, where more than 10 people asked questions.
Tamara Bailey of Long Beach said the film resonated with her personally. Her stepfather, a Black pilot, continues to face discrimination in the industry.
“My mother is crying — this is not just something of the past. Black pilots are still facing discrimination,” she said. “My stepfather is still facing discrimination. It took them 10, 15 years to get back on the saddle and really pursue becoming a pilot because of the discrimination.
This can definitely be shared to students of color,” she expressed. “To know that this is the legacy and the shoulders that they stand on.”
Serrano founded the nonprofit One Better World Project to preserve oral histories like Moret’s. She said only three Tuskegee Airmen remain alive today, underscoring the urgency of documenting their stories.
“It’s about creating a better world,” Serrano said, “not for just you or for me, but for all of us.”
“The Tuskegee airmen, to come out means so much for schools to get engaged and get involved,” Hodge said. “Black history is not just for Black people. It’s history for everybody, because everybody’s history is important to understand the significant accomplishment.”
Serrano explained she is excited to bring her film to colleges and universities.
“When students are given the information – or young people, they really absorb and they really want to do something positive,” she said. “They run with it in a positive way – we have a component for that, it’s also up to all of us to bring people in places where we can have engaging presentations and conversations.”
