Artist Dwight White II recently finished a mural in Rantoul honoring the Tuskegee Airmen. It is located at 707 Veterans Parkway on the former Chanute Air Force Base.
Dwight White II has been interested in art since he was a kid. However, it was a side of himself he didn’t always share with others.
“I was interested in color, how things, visuals work,” he said. “And even early on in school, it was something that I would do kind of as electives, almost secretively. … It wasn’t like a shared experience amongst friends or teammates or anything. It was just something that brought me specific joy.”
White, who is from Houston, went on to become a football player at Northwestern University, playing as a cornerback for two-plus seasons. He was injured before his final year and had to retire in the fall of 2014 due to a kidney issue.
“As I was dealing with a little bit of depression and losing the game unexpectedly, I kind of turned to art as just an outlet, kind of therapy, something that would get my mind off of not being able to play,” he said.
White is now a professional multidisciplinary artist based in both Chicago and Los Angeles.
He recently completed a mural in honor of the Tuskegee Airmen who trained at Rantoul’s former Chanute Air Force Base. The mural, which will be unveiled at 2 p.m. Monday in a public ceremony, is located at 707 Veterans Parkway on the exterior of a warehouse used by mattress company BedTech.
Dwight White II was a cornerback at Northwestern for two-plus seasons until he had to medically retire in 2014.
White said that his art is “rooted in human experiences.” He described his current visual style as drawing inspiration from cubism, mosaics and African masks.
When asked if there are things he learned from being a football player that apply to his current craft, White pointed to “tenacity” and “work ethic.”
“Art is a practice in itself,” he said. “And I think, just like a sport, the more consistent you are, the more you’re putting into your craft, you get better outcomes.”
Additionally, White said that thinking like a student-athlete has helped him connect with clients such as Nike, adidas, the Chicago Bulls and the Chicago Blackhawks.
“We all speak the same language,” he said.
He’s also completed some murals at his alma mater’s football and tennis facilities.
As for the project in Rantoul, White said that it seemed like the universe was “pulling strings together,” as he had been working on some Tuskegee Airmen concepts in his studio when he found out that local organizations sought to commission a mural on the subject.
Additionally, it was a topic he was already knowledgeable about.
“I paint a lot from memory,” White said. “So, research or books that I read growing up, short films, documentaries, movies even, kind of contributed to my initial Tuskegee Airmen concepts I was developing. And then specifically for this mural, I was able to connect with people more locally and read more about Chanute Field.”
The mural is part of the Champaign County African American Heritage Trail, which has been facilitated by the Experience Champaign-Urbana Foundation and co-chaired by Barbara Suggs-Mason and Angela Rivers.
The 99th Pursuit Squadron, which was the first all-Black fighter squadron, was activated at Chanute Field in 1941, according to the heritage trail’s website.
Artist Dwight White II’s mural in Rantoul honoring the Tuskegee Airmen is described as ‘a powerful piece’ depicting two individuals: an airman and an officer.
While Tuskegee Army Air Field was to be the squadron’s main training base, it was still under construction, so training had to begin elsewhere.
“Chanute Field in Rantoul, Illinois, was evolving into the best technical training center in the U.S. Army Air Corps,” trail officials wrote. “The Air Corps and War Department chose it to begin the men’s training. The darker side of this decision was other capable bases objected to training Black airmen.”
Six aviation cadets and over 270 enlisted men received their initial technical training at Chanute. No pilots were trained at the base but instead went directly to Tuskegee in July.
The cadets at Chanute would become the first Black commissioned officers for the squadron and air base detachment, trail officials said. One pair trained as armaments officers, another pair trained as communications officers and the remaining pair trained as engineering officers.
The enlisted men at Chanute were the first Black men to receive U.S. Army Air Corps training in a variety of fields, including mechanics, welding, metalworking, parachute rigging, weather observation, technical work for radio and instruments, armament and clerical work.
“Despite a multitude of challenges, the Black trainees excelled at Chanute,” trail officials wrote. “Academically, they were unrivaled, and won virtually every athletic event they entered. Men from Chanute began transitioning to Tuskegee Army Air Field in October 1941, and by November, the squadron and the air base detachment were officially relocated. The technical training phase, deemed almost impossible by some detractors, took less than one year to complete.”
“As a young Black kid, I was extremely inspired by it, thinking about what it would’ve taken to become a pilot in those times,” White said in an interview on ‘News-Gazette Radio’. “And just especially when you see people who climbed the ranks, like kind of starting as a mechanic and eventually becoming a pilot and pursuing their dreams and becoming one of the, some of the first. I think it’s a legacy worth telling.”
White started painting the mural around Aug. 16 or 17 and was finished by Aug. 20.
Dwight White II was a cornerback for Northwestern for three seasons until he had to medically retire in 2014.
Rivers, who was involved in artist selection, said that one of the things that made White stand out was his style, which she said was “very evocative.”
“His faces are angular, somewhat abstracted, which gives them a powerful bent,” she explained.
She described the finished mural as “a powerful piece” depicting two individuals: an airman and an officer. The officer is looking up at the sky, while the pilot is “looking directly at you,” she said.
“He notices you, which kind of forces you to notice him,” she added.
The mural was supported by a grant from the Illinois Art Council.
“The project partners also extend their sincere appreciation to Sherwin-Williams, United Rentals, The H.O.Y.C.E. (Helping Our Youth Change Everyday) Center, 718 Real Estate, Tuskegee Airmen Mural Project Committee, Cargo Plumbing, the Village of Rantoul, Oesfreelancing Graphic Design and family members of Tuskegee Airmen for helping bring the mural to life,” Experience Champaign-Urbana officials said.
Additionally, 40 North put out the request for proposals and was involved in artist selection, Rivers said.
She estimated that there are about six murals that are “directly a part of the heritage trail, where we helped with finding the financing.”
“They all tell a story and have a strong moral to tell,” Rivers said. “And this is what we want to show to the children and the young adults.”
White said that it felt like there was a lack of available information about Black history when he was growing up, which meant that he had to dig deeper to find this information.
Now, as an artist, he’s excited to help “amplify” these stories.
“Maybe it’ll ignite a young person to ask more questions and learn about maybe the mechanics that helped the Tuskegee Airmen first take flight,” White said. “I think all those stories are impactful, and I think if I can leverage my craft to share them, I’m doing something special.”
