*Dale L. White’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1899. He was a Black pilot and aviation activist. Born in Minden, Louisiana, White moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1930. In 1932, he attended the Curtiss-Wright Aeronautical University. In August 1933, White began his flight training and received his license in June 1936. Along with […]
learn more*John Robinson was born on this date in 1905. He was a Black aviator and activist. John Charles Robinson was born in Carrabelle, Florida, and spent his early years in Gulfport, Mississippi. His father died when he was a baby, leaving him and his four-year-old sister, Bertha, with their mother, Celeste Robinson, who married Charles Cobb. Robinson was inspired by flight at an […]
learn moreChauncey Spencer was born on this date in 1906. He was an African American pilot and educator.
He was born in Lynchburg, VA, one of three children of Edward Spencer and noted Harlem Renaissance poet Anne Spencer. One of the most respected families in Lynchburg, visitors to the Spencer home included George Washington Carver, Paul Robeson, James Weldon Johnson, Walter White, Clarence Muse, Dean Pickens, Adam Clayton Powell, Langston Hughes, Thurgood Marshall, and W.E.B. Dubois.
learn moreOn this date we mark the birth of Frank Mann in 1908. He was an African American engineer and designer.
learn more*The Challenger Air Pilots Association is celebrated on this date in 1924. Formed by Cornelius Coffey, John Charles Robinson, Willa Brown, and others, it expanded flying opportunities for Blacks in Chicago. Excluded from local airfields, they set up their own at Robbins, Illinois. To become a Pilot
learn moreOn this date in 1938, Cornelius Coffey became the first African American registered pilot.
Coffey obtained his commercial license (#36609) so that he could teach both at Curtiss-Wright and then at his own school in Chicago.
learn more