Smithsonian American Art Museum
Outreach Programs at Vinson Hall

 
 
The Smithsonian American Art Museum, the nation's first collection of American art, is an unparalleled record of the American experience. The collection captures the aspirations, character and imagination of the American people throughout three centuries  
 Presented by Smithsonian Museum Staff  
 

-Thursday Sept 23 at 2:00 pm “America the Beautiful”
 
-Thursday Oct 21 at 2:00 pm “Native Americans”
 
-Thursday Nov 18 at 2:00pm “Bon Appétit”
 
-Thursday Dec 16 at 2:00pm “Folk Art”   
 
All presentations are held at Arleigh Burke Pavilion in the Lower Level Theater

Presentations are open to all VHRC residents, their families and guests and members of the community. Please RSVP below.

Vinson Hall and Himmelfarb Univeristy  present lifelong learning series especially for seniors.

For full information and dates:                           

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Representatives from both AAFES Strategic Marketing (Ray Lamy and Keith Howell) and DeCA (Antonio Matthias – Fort Belvoir Store Director) will be in the Capital area from Monday 27 September through Friday 1 October 2010 to provide the four major military retirement communities short informational briefings on the most up to date programs at both AAFES and DeCA.  The program is designed to increase awareness of events and services reminding our retirees of the benefits, value and buying power that they possess by shopping at their Exchange and Commissary facilities. as well as to engage AAFES / DeCA participation within their living communities.

Spend an exciting day in 1944

as you experience a sea and

air adventure aboard Baltimore's

restored Liberty Ship

JOHN W. BROWN.

The Tuskegee Airmen Wives Tell Their Stories

This project brings to the public arena for the first time, the stories of the women who stood shoulder to shoulder with the Tuskegee Airmen. Wives of men of the 99th, 100th, 301st, and 302nd Fighter Squadrons, as well as the 477th Bombardment Group, and related personnel have been interviewed. The interviews cover their personal backgrounds, as well as their experiences at Tuskegee, during World War II, and during the early years of integration in the Air Force. As young women, some lived in the segregated town of Tuskegee during the men's training; many were separated from their husbands by the war. When the Air Force desegregated in 1949, the predominantly Negro facility at Lockbourne Air Force Base was disbanded and personnel were re-assigned throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia. Consequently, the Tuskegee Airmen wives were among the first to experience institutional desegregation in the United States. How did the women cope in this unprecedented situation? How did they support their husbands, protect their children, and maintain their own sense of self? What enabled them to succeed during such challenging times? The actions of Rosa Parks led to a very public desegregation of bus service in Montgomery, Alabama, but years earlier these women quietly, nearly invisibly, desegregated Air Force bases throughout the country. Each day they navigated alien territory, sending husbands off to work and children off to school, while maintaining their households. Theirs was a quiet revolution, with far reaching consequences. The U.S. military is, even today, one of the most integrated elements of U.S. society, due in no small part to the men and women who were part of the Tuskegee Airmen experience.

Book author, Dr. Rosemary F. Crockett, PhD) along with a couple of the wives featured in the book, will give a synopsis of the book, and recant  some of the stories in the book.  Book signing will follow the lecture.

Open to all Vinson Hall residents, their families and guests and members of the community.