Esteban Hotesse

Esteban Hotesse (February 11, 1919 – July 8, 1945) (also known as "Stephen Hotesse") was a black Dominican American United States Army Air Force second lieutenant and member of the World War II combat fighter group, the Tuskegee Airmen. He was the only Dominican-born member of the Tuskegee Airmen. He died in a B-25 Mitchell crash in July 1945.

Early life and family Hotesse was born on February 11, 1919, in Moca, Espaillat, Dominican Republic. He was the son of Clara Pacheco, a Dominican woman.

Freeman Field Mutiny On April 5, 1945, Hotesse was among several black officers within the 477th Bombardment Group arrested in the Freeman Field Mutiny.

Colonel Robert Selway, a white United States Army Air Forces officer and first commanding officer of the Tuskegee Airmen's 477th Medium Bombardment Group within the First Air Force, designated the Officer's Club for "supervisory and instructor personnel" and another more substandard facility for "trainees." Like his ranking officer, First Air Force commanding general, the state of Georgia's Major General Frank O'Driscoll Hunter, Colonel Selway was a racial segregationist. Intentionally, Selway classified all members of the all-black 447th Bombardment Group as trainees, effectively segregating the officer clubs by race. His illegal, racially discriminatory maneuver violated U.S. Army Regulation 210-10, Paragraph 19, which prohibited any public building on a military installation from being used "for the accommodation of any self-constituted special or exclusive group," thereby requiring officers' clubs be open to all officers regardless of race. For the next two days, black officers in groups ranging from twelve to twenty entered the whites-only club peacefully. 36 black officers entered the Officer's Club the first day and were arrested when they refused to leave, while 35 officers were arrested the following night.

Shortly after, Colonel Selway implemented Base Regulation 85-2, assigning specific housing, mess, and recreational facilities to officers. Selway proceeded to order each officer to sign a form confirming that they had read and understood the regulation. 101 of the 422 officers refused to sign, and were arrested for insubordination.

Legacy On August 23, 2018, the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute and U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat (NY-13) hosted a ceremony to honor Esteban Hotesse and presented his family with a replica of the Congressional Gold Medal awarded to the Tuskegee Airmen on March 29, 2007.