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Oliver Goodall Memorial Unveiled in Altadena

Former Tuskegee Airmen and local resident took part in protest to integrate military club

Published on Monday, February 17, 2020 | 5:34 am
 

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[Updated] In 1963 Sidney Poitier came out to Los Angeles to film “Lilies of the Field” after his breakout success in “Blackboard Jungle”. At the time, there were few middle class neighborhoods in Los Angeles County that were as welcoming to African-Americans as Altadena, where the groundbreaking actor decided to rent a house.

Poitier was part of a boon of African-American residents seeking diversity and equality that discovered the small bedroom community, which included Oliver Goodall.

Not a movie star like Poitier, Goodall was an employee of the U.S. Postal Service, and unbeknownst to many of his neighbors, a former First Lieutenant of the Tuskegee Airmen, the all-black fighter and bomber group of World War II.

On Sunday, a monument honoring Goodall was unveiled on the front lawn of his former house on West Harriet Street in Altadena.

“This year, on the 10 year anniversary of his passing, I wanted to elevate his legacy and his contributions.” said Eugene Hutchins, who moved into the house several years ago after looking for a community that had diversity. “It’s always going to be open. Once it’s here we invite people to come and read about Goodall and learn about his contributions and learn about who he was.”

After he moved in, Hutching was amazed to learn that one of its previous residents was a military and civil rights hero. Soon he began working on creating a monument to commemorate Goodall’s life and deeds.

Goodall played a part in the Freeman Field Mutiny, which took place on a base near Seymour, Indiana in 1945. Black members of his squadron tried to integrate an all-white officers’ club on the base. As a result of the protests, 162 separate arrests were made of black officers, none for the whites involved. It wasn’t until 1995 that the Air Force officially exonerated the African-American officers, removing the letters of reprimand from the permanent files.

Many consider the Freeman Field Mutiny to be a major turning point on the road to integration of the U.S. armed forces and as a model for civil disobedience efforts to integrate public facilities in the 50’s and 60’s.

After the war, dozens of Tuskegee Airmen moved to Southern California. Today, according to Jocelin Tomlin – Los Angeles Chapter President of the Tuskegee Airmen, there are only nine living veterans of the group left in Southern California.

Sunday’s event was attended by Congressmember Judy Chu and so many local community groups and leaders and neighbors that the crowd spilled out into the normally tranquil street of modest single-family houses.

Among the volunteers were students from John Muir High School, where three generations of the Goodall family received their high school diplomas.

Altadena has honored Goodall in the past. In 2011 Congressman Adam Schiff spearheaded an effort that led to the Post Office on Lake Avenue in Altadena to be named the “First Lieutenant Oliver Goodall Post Office.”

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