32 Facts About Willa Brown

Willa Beatrice Brown was an American aviator, lobbyist, teacher, and civil rights activist.

Willa Brown was the first African American woman to earn a pilot's license in the United States, the first African American woman to run for the United States Congress, first African American officer in the Civil Air Patrol, and first woman in the US to have both a pilot's license and an aircraft mechanic's license.

Willa Brown was a lifelong advocate for gender and racial equality in the field of aviation as well as in the military.

Willa Brown trained hundreds of pilots, several of whom went on to become Tuskegee Airmen; the creation of the Tuskegee Airmen has been credited to Brown's training efforts.

Willa Brown ran in Congressional primary elections in 1946 and 1950 and taught in the Chicago Public School System until 1971, when she retired at age 65.

Willa Beatrice Brown was born to Eric and Hallie Brown on January 22,1906, in Glasgow, Kentucky.

Willa Brown graduated from Sarah Scott Junior High in 1920, and Wiley High School in 1923.

Willa Brown taught in Gary, Indiana, at Emerson High School's Roosevelt Annex from 1927 to 1932.

Willa Brown then moved to Chicago, where she worked in a variety of jobs, including secretarial work, social work, and teaching.

In 1934, Willa Brown began studying flying at Chicago's racially segregated Harlem Field.

Willa Brown started with lessons from Fred Schumacher, Dorothy Darby, and Colonel Robinson, and ran Brown's Lunch Room, a sandwich shop, at the airfield.

Willa Brown eventually trained with certified flight instructor Cornelius Coffey, an expert in the field of aviation mechanics.

Willa Brown earned a private pilot's license in 1938 and a commercial pilot's license in 1939, becoming the first African American woman to earn either type of license in the United States.

Willa Brown joined the Challenger Air Pilots Association, the group who initially introduced her to flying.

Willa Brown later was elected president of the organization's Chicago branch, and user her position as an activist for racial equality.

Willa Brown took on public relations duties for the organization, and flew to colleges and spoke on the radio to get African Americans interested in flying.

Willa Brown began teaching aviation and flight for a number of organizations.

Willa Brown was the school's director for its first two years, and she taught there, while handling administrative and advertising work.

Willa Brown lobbied the government as an advocate for the integration of black pilots into a then-segregated Army Air Corps and federal Civilian Pilot Training Program.

Willa Brown worked to disprove a 1925 Army War College study which had deemed African Americans unfit to fly.

Willa Brown lobbied the federal government to award CPTP contracts to train African American pilots, and in 1940 she was appointed coordinator of two Chicago units of the CPTP.

Willa Brown was later appointed war-training service coordinator for the Civil Aeronautics Authority.

Willa Brown remained active in aviation advocacy and flight education: she was a long-term active member of the National Airmen's Association, the Illinois wing of the Civil Air Patrol, Aircraft Owners and Pilot's Association, Women Flyers of America, the National Aviation Training Association, the International Women's Air and Space Museum, the OX-5 Pioneer Aviation Club, and the Tuskegee Airman's Association.

In 1946, Willa Brown ran in the Republican Party primary elections for Illinois's 1st congressional district, becoming the first African American woman to run in a congressional primary election.

Willa Brown's campaign focused on improving the opportunities for African Americans, including creating an airport owned and used by African Americans.

Willa Brown ran unsuccessfully to be a Chicago alderman in 1947, and again for the same congressional seat in 1948.

Willa Brown ran for Congress a third time in the 1950 Republican primary election, and was defeated by Archibald Carey Jr.

Willa Brown returned to teaching in high schools from 1962 until her retirement in 1971.

Willa Brown served on the Women's Advisory Committee of the Federal Aviation Administration from 1972 to 1975.

Willa Brown was the first black woman to serve on that committee.

Willa Brown had a confident bearing and there was an undercurrent of determination in her husky voice as she announced, not asked, that she wanted to see me.

On July 18,1992, Willa Brown died of a stroke in Chicago, at the University of Chicago's Bernard Mitchell Hospital.