WHEN HISTORIANS AND BIOGRAPHERS WRITE ABOUT CHICAGO AVIATOR WILLA BROWN, they generally recount tales of her role as one of the first licensed female Black pilots in the United States and her indefatigable efforts to open military aviation to Black pilots. They often overlook, however, her personal struggles to obtain a pilot license in a White, male-dominated aviation community, and incorrectly identify her as being the first Black female to earn a federal pilot's license. Most rarely examine her inspiration and motivation for fighting established norms and advocating for the acceptance of Black pilots into the aviation community at large.1 Why, for example, did moving to Chicago and meeting the city's pioneering Black aviators result in a career change from teacher to aviator? What in her background drove her passion to become a spokesperson and lobbyist for change? In an age of racial injustice, segregation, and denied opportunities...
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