Author Talk: Tuskegee Airmen with Cheryl W. Thompson and Rochelle Riley

The Author Series Committee at the Detroit Public Library is pleased to welcome NPR investigative journalist Cheryl W. Thompson for a special discussion about her new book, Forgotten Souls: The Search for the Lost Tuskegee Airmen (Dafina, 2026). In the book, Thompson explores the stories of the 27 Tuskegee Airmen – the Black pilots who fought for America in WWII – who went missing in combat, the lives they lived, the reasons their planes went down, why the remains of all but two were never found, and the impact their disappearances had on their families and communities.

Joining Cheryl in conversation is Detroit-based writer and arts advocate Rochelle Riley. Copies of Forgotten Souls will be available for purchase from Detroit's own Source Booksellers.

About Cheryl: Cheryl W. Thompson is an award-winning investigative reporter for National Public Radio, an associate professor of journalism at George Washington University, and author of Forgotten Souls: The Search for the Lost Tuskegee Airmen. She is the recipient of more than 40 journalism awards, including an Emmy and 5 National Headliners, and served as reporting coach for the Pulitzer Prize-winning NPR podcast No Compromise. During more than 20 years as a reporter for The Washington Post, she was part of teams that won two Pulitzer Prizes for national reporting. She served as a Pulitzer Prize juror for the Investigative Reporting category in 2022 and chaired the jury in 2023. She is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and Investigative Reporters and Editors, where she was elected the first Black president in 2018 and served an unprecedented three terms. She is also a founding and current board member of the Center for Collaborative Investigative Journalism and a member of the advisory board for the Fund for Investigative Journalism. She is currently a member of the National Press Foundation Board and the Spotlight DC Board, and a two-time graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The daughter of a Tuskegee Airman, she is a Chicago native who lives outside Washington, DC, and can be found online at CherylWThompson.com.

About Rochelle: ROCHELLE RILEY, writer by trade, warrior by necessity, spent almost 20 years at the Detroit Free Press as a nationally syndicated columnist and fierce advocate for children, women and accountable government before becoming the City of Detroit’s Director of Arts and Culture, overseeing the Office of Arts, Culture and Entrepreneurship from 2019 to 2026. Rochelle left the newsroom after having been inducted into the Michigan, North Carolina and National Association of Black Journalists Halls of Fame. Her pivot to arts advocacy and a different kind of public service was seamless. Her first project was the United States’ first city-wide memorial to victims of Covid-19. Fifteen funeral processions circled the city’s Belle Isle past 924 photo billboards of victims. More than 25,000 cars drove past victim photos, and millions viewed the processions online and on television. https://www.fox2detroit.com/video/845921. In 2022, her office launched the Detroit Mural Map, a partnership with Canvs to document every mural painted on the walls of the city. More than 850 murals and artist biographies are on the site now, including those painted by artists in Detroit’s City Walls program that replaces graffiti with art. ACE also co-hosted the nation's first National Street Art Summit in 2023, which brought seven of the Top Ten cities creating murals to Detroit for a conversation about the growing mural movement. And her office just completed the Detroit Arts Alleys, transforming nine arts alleys into outdoor museums and commissioning 47 artists to install art in the alleys. The project was funded by $5.4 million in federal funds and $280,000 from the Knight Foundation. See them here: https://heyzine.com/flip-book/ArtsAlleys. Rochelle also does entrepreneurship training for artists on management, branding and finance. You can keep up with Rochelle’s adventures around the country at www.rochelleriley.com. Rochelle lives near the banks of the Detroit River, but is rarely at home. She has visited 29 countries and 36 states and counting.

This is NOT a ticketed event, which means seats are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Registration is strongly encouraged in order to receive important updates about this event. Questions? Email [email protected]!

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