Willa Beatrice Brown
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Willa Brownn:An American Aviator: Video from: Filmakers Library
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In 1939, Willa Brown was the first African-American woman to earn a commercial pilots license in the U.S. and the 1st African American officer in the Civil Air Patrol (CAP). She, along her husband, opened the Coffey School of Aeronautics. Her work led to Congress forming the Tuskegee Airmen squadron. She also taught in public schools in Chicago and Indiana where she loved children and fostered a love of learning and pursuit of dreams.
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1945 “Willa Beatrice Brown, a 31-year-old Negro American, serves her country by training pilots for the U.S. Army Air Forces. She is the first Negro woman to receive a commission as a lieutenant in the U.S. Civil Air Patrol.” Image from: US National Archives Record Adminiistration
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Willa Brown. Image from: National Air and Space Museum
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“Brown really was a great leader in the push to get the ban lifted on African-American pilots in the armed forces,”-Michael Flug, an archivist for the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of black history at the Chicago Public Library.
Willa's students enrolled in the 99th Pursuit Squadron at Tuskegee Institute—also known as the legendary “Tuskegee Airmen". She was responsible for the creation of the Tuskegee Airmen, which led to the integration of the U.S. military services in 1948. - Image from Tuskegee Airmen National Museum.
"During the pre-WWII years, Brown and Coffey began their life-long advocacy, if not profession, toward integrating nationally-funded aviation programs to include schools owned and operated by blacks, with the ultimate goal of racially integrating the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP) the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) and the U.S. Air Force". -Giacinta Bradley Koontz Director of Maintenance Magazine
A Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP) course in aviation mechanics conducted at the Coffey School of Aeronautics in Chicago in 1941. The class was open to all races. Images from:National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
Blacks and whites learning together |
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"Jim Crow Law: Teaching. Any instructor who shall teach in any school, college or institution where members of the white and colored race are received and enrolled as pupils for instruction shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined..." (Oklahoma). S. Kennedy