Press Releases

< Back

For Immediate Release
August 25, 2008

Contact:
Jo Anne Schultze
Executive Director, Pennsylvania Veterans Museum
jschultze@paveteransmuseum.org
610-566-0788

Pennsylvania Veterans Museum films and lesson plans fit proposed JROTC curriculum requirements on diversity

Media, PA –The U. S. House of Representatives passed a directive on May 16, 2008 to include ethnic and gender diversity training as part of the JROTC curriculum in programs throughout the country. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard JROTC program directors nationwide are already beginning to request Pennsylvania Veterans Museum-produced films that can help them meet this new directive, including:

“On Freedom’s Wings: Bound for Glory,” the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, a WWII Army Air Corps “experimental” program to train and commission African-American aviators during a time when all U.S. Armed Forces were racially segregated. This small band of daring pilots would eventually make aviation history, never losing an American bomber they were assigned to protect against German fighters over 200 missions.
“Out-takes from Vietnam: The American Humanitarian Effort” traces the broad humanitarian efforts of military troops during and after the Vietnam War, including efforts that continue into the present day. It includes interviews with an ethnically diverse array of veterans.

The directive is included in the National Defense Appropriation Act of 2009, prepared by the House Armed Services Committee, which requires approval by the Senate before becoming law.

The Pennsylvania Veterans Museum produced the documentary films and developed lesson plans for elementary through high school students and for JROTC training. The lesson plans are accredited by the State of Pennsylvania. The museum offers the films and lesson plans free of charge to educators around the world.

A documentary and companion lesson plans on women in the military are to be released by the Pennsylvania Veterans Museum in March 2009.

The films and lesson plans are available through the Pennsylvania Veterans Museum website, www.paveteransmuseum.org. Films are free to educators and available at a minimal charge to the general public.

The Pennsylvania Veterans Museum opened its doors three years ago with a mission to teach students the history of our Country through the eyes of those who served. To learn more, visit www.paveteransmuseum.org.

###