Stephen Hotesse

Dominican Immigrants|Dominican Veterans|Dominicans in Politics|Dominicans in the United States|Rafael Leónidas Trujillo|World War II

CUNY Dominican Studies Institute

Afro American Newspapers / Project Gado, Getty Images, and the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

1919-1945

Edward De Jesús, Principal Investigator / Curator

Ruth Lizardi, Coordinator / Assistant Curator

Dr. Ramona Hernández, Director, CUNY DSI & Professor of Sociology, The City College of New York

Anthony Stevens-Acevedo, Assistant Director

Idilio Gracia Peña, Chief Archivist

Sarah Aponte, Chief Librarian

Jessy J. Pérez, Archivist

Jhensen Ortiz, Assistant Librarian

Groana G. Meléndez, Photography Editor

Norma Guzmán and Donald Mounts, Researchers

Dr. Tim Williams, Senior Editor

Mariel Acosta, Katie Duarte, Shaday Fermín, and Anthony Stevens-Acevedo, Editors

John P. Bimbiras, Edward De Jesús, Jhensen Ortiz, Jessy J. Pérez, Sophia Monegro and Natalie A. Studt, Biography Text Writers

Isabelia Herrera, Grant Writer

Javier Pichardo, Graphic Artist

Sponsor: CUNY Dominican Studies Institute

Sponsor: Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at The City College of New York

Sponsor: Latino Americans: 500 Years - National Endowment for the Humanities

Sponsor: American Library Association

Sponsor: New York City Council

Sponsor: Smithsonian Latino Center

Sponsor: Center for Puerto Rican Studies (Centro)

Sponsor: The Documentary Forum - CCNY Center for Film, Journalism, and Interactive Media

Sponsor: Dominican Students Association

24" x 36" panel

English

Stephen Hotesse was born on February 11, 1919 in Moca, Dominican Republic. He came to the U.S. at the age of 4 with his mother, Clara Pacheco, and sister, Irma Hotesse. During World War II, Hotesse became a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first all-black group of military pilots in the U.S. Armed Forces. He attained the rank of Second Lieutenant in the 619th Bombardment Squadron of the 477th Bombardment Group.

Although his group never got the chance to see combat, they fought in the U.S. for the same freedom their fellow service members were fighting for overseas. On April 11,1945, Hotsesse was among 101 black officers arrested for refusing to obey the Jim Crow system. His arrest took place after a series of incidents involving black officers challenging de facto segregeation by entering clubs reserved for white officers only and demanding service at the Freeman Army Airfield, a U.S. Army Air Forces base near Seymour, Indiana. In an attempt to enforce segregation, the base's white commanding officer, Col. Robert B. Selway, issued an order that classified all black officers as "trainees," which barred them from entering any facilities for white officers, and directed all officers to sign a statement verifying that they read, understood, and accepted the order. Hotsesse , along with another 100 officers, refused to sign the statement, risking arrest, and potentially their lives, as disobeying orders from a superior officer during time of war is an act punishable by death. All 101 officers were arrested but later released following pressure from outside organizations. Col. Selway was later removed as commander and replaced with Col. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. Many historians see these events, which occurred 9 years before the Montgomery bus Boycott in which Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks participated, as a preamble to the Civil Rights Movement; they played a significant part in the decision made by President harry S. Truman in 1948 to desegregate the armed forces.

Hotsesse 's life was cut short on July 8, 1945 after a B-25 aircraft he copiloted crashed during combat training while flying over the Ohio River near Madison, Indiana, killing two other Tuskegee Airmen officers on board.