From The Scoop: Willa Brown Chappell
We all know that Bessie Coleman was a pioneering African American aviatrix, but did you know that she actually wasn't the first African American woman to receive her pilot's license in the U.S.?
Bessie Coleman, in fact, received her pilot's license in France, because no U.S. pilots' program would accept her. She attained her certification in 1921 after only seven months, becoming the very first African American woman in the world to be licensed to fly an aircraft.
But the first African American woman to achieve that distinction on U.S. soil was Willa Beatrice Brown.
After receiving her BA from IndianaTeachers College in 1927 and MBA from NorthwesternUniversity in 1937, Brown sought the assistance of Chicago Defender Publisher/Editor Robert Abbott, who had also helped Bessie Coleman to pursue her aviation goals. Brown enrolled in the AeronauticalUniversity in Chicago, earning a Master Mechanic certificate in 1935. Under the tutelage of certified flight instructor and aviation mechanic Cornelius Coffey, she earned her private pilot's license in 1938, passing her exam with a near perfect score of 96 percent.
In 1941, she became the first African American officer in the Civil Air Patrol (CAP). The U.S. government also named her federal coordinator of the CAP Chicago unit. Two years later, she became the first woman in the United States who possessed both a mechanic's license and a commercial license in aviation.
Willa was a member of several flight organizations, including the Challenger Air Pilot's Association, the Chicago Girls Flight Club, and the Federal Aviation Administration's Women's Advisory Board. She also purchased her own plane.
Her interests didn't end at aviation, though. Brown became the first African American woman to run for Congress in 1946. She campaigned again in 1948 and 1950 before pursuing other interests. She married a minister in 1955 and taught aeronautics at WestinghouseHigh School until the 1970s. Willa Beatrice Brown Chappell died in July 1992. She was 86 years old.
Though few African American male aviators cropped up in the background illustrations of flight-centric comics in the '40s, let alone African American female aviators--who were relegated to civilian flight, anyway--Brown's life certainly would make for a great period comic today.
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