Flying Above the Clouds of Adversity: A Screening and Celebration of Black Combat Pilots

Meet black military pilots Alexander Jefferson, Carl Gamble and Brenda Robinson.

Alexander Jefferson

Carl Gamble

Brenda Robinson

At age 95, former Tuskegee Airman Alexander Jefferson is still going strong! The once held prisoner-of-war was shot out of the skies in Europe and held by the Germans between 1944 and 1945, as World War II ended.

This former school teacher, lecturer, author and Detroit native is the subject of award-winning documentary producer Steve Crump's latest project titled Red Tail Revered. Jefferson and other local African-American combat pilots are our special invited guests for a night we've titled Flying Above The Clouds of Adversity.

A panel discussion and book signing with Jefferson, Gamble and Robinson will follow the screening.

To receive special discounted parking, please park in the Duke Energy garage (101 W. Stonewall Street entrance) or The Green garage (435 S. Tryon Street).

ABOUT THE FILMMAKER

Steve Crump is an award-winning African-American journalist, documentary film producer, and current television reporter for WBTV. A native of Louisville, KY, Crump first went to work at WBTV in 1984. He left the station after three years, but returned in 1989.

Crump has been described as the station’s institutional memory, having reported on many of the major events that shaped modern Charlotte, but may be more widely known for his Emmy Award® winning documentaries with subjects ranging from Apartheid in South Africa to civil rights in the American South. He also has earned a number of other awards including four National Headliner Awards, the Gabriel Award, and more than a dozen first-place honors from the National Association of Black Journalists. In 2016, Crump was named their "2016 Journalist of the Year."