The cover of the book Jesse & Tom The Americans Who Showed The Path To Overcome Racism. Photo by Capt. Ed Sullivan
The 4th grade students at Manor Intermediate School along with their teachers Brittany Goodyear & Alec Goldammer were recipients this past June of the local Veterans Reading Program “Jesse & Tom” “The Americans Who Showed the Path to Overcome Racism.”
The story highlights the difficulties of Jesse Leroy Brown to overcome racism growing up in Hattiesburg, Mississippi; and his struggles through barriers of entry into the Naval flight program to become the 1st African-American pilot in US Naval history.
The author Capt. Ed Sullivan, who served 19 years with Capt. Tom Hudner as volunteers on the MA National WWII Memorial Committee, dedicated the book to the memory of Capt. Hudner.
Capt. Tom Hudner crashed his aircraft on Dec. 4, 1950 during a racially divisive time in America; in an attempt to save his naval shipmate Ensign Jesse Brown whose leg was pinned in his crashed Corsair aircraft. Capt. Hudner was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic attempt to save Jesse Brown.
Capt. Sullivan was assisted by Manor 4th grade teacher Brittany Goodyear who illustrated the book via a projector on the teaching board for a read-a-long with the entire class.
Teacher Alec Goldammer, a local veteran along with students and teacher assistants all enjoyed the story about Jesse Brown, his shipmate Tom Hudner, and Jesse’s wife Daisy Brown a schoolteacher who played a pivotal role of support to help Jesse become America’s 1st African-American Navy Pilot.
The book “Jesse & Tom” “The Americans Who Showed the Path to Overcome Racism” is a story for American youth in an effort to help raise awareness to the living examples that Ensign Jesse Leroy Brown, & Capt. Tom Hudner, gave our nation to overcome racism through faith, hard work, & perseverance.
All the 4th grade Manor students received an autographed copy of the book in memory of the Veterans Reading Program. Special thanks is extended to Maria @ Copy Town in Lima for print support. The book “Jesse & Tom” “The Americans Who Showed the Path to Overcome Racism is available on Amazon.com.
