Born in Kentucky, Willa Beatrice Brown was born in 1906 to Eric B. Brown and Hallie Mae Carpenter Brown. Around the time Willa Brown was six years old, the family moved to Indiana. Her family fostered education, and she was able to complete college from Indiana Teachers College (State Normal School) with a degree centered in science and business in 1927, and then a masters degree from Northwestern University in business administration beginning in 1934. In between the years that she furthered her education, Brown had various jobs, one of which as a teacher in Gary, Indiana, and then in Chicago, Illinois in the public school system. All of this paved the way for her interest in American aviation from a chance meeting.
The Aviation Spark
During the 1930’s, Willa was always working, even during the main years of the Depression. When she was able to, Willa attended Northwestern University, and became interested in aviation when she met pilot John C. Robinson. He introduced her to another pilot, Cornelius Coffey, who then went on to became Brown’s second husband after her first marriage to Wilbur Hardaway dissolved.
Being friends with pilots, Brown was constantly at Chicago’s Aeronautical University taking classes to become a pilot. It was only a few years before this that the University allowed African American pilots, after Robinson and Coffey threatened legal action.
First Female African American Commercial Pilot
Receiving high marks, Brown went from student pilot to commercial pilot by 1939. From that point on, Brown fought for desegregation in the United States Air Force, and in the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP), which was founded to train commercial pilots for military uses in times of crisis. The federal government was then able to use her as an experimental subject for CPTP, even making her lieutenant and in charge of a squad, thus making her the first African American officer in the Civil Air Patrol.
In 1940, Brown became a ground aviation instructor in the Coffey School of Aeronautics, which Coffey and Brown started in 1940, with the aid of CPTP awarding them federal funding. The school closed in 1945, when WWII ended. As the 1940’s ended, and the 1950’s were roaring, Brown’s second marriage ended.
Brown was constantly working with and for African American rights for both the private and public sector. When asked, Brown stated that a large part of her inspiration came from the life of Bessie Coleman, who was the first African American woman to earn a pilot’s license.
Brown’s final marriage was to Reverend J. H. Chappell in 1955, and it was with this marriage that Brown became involved heavily in church. Over and over again, Brown kept returning to education. In 1971, she finally retired as a teacher from the public school system, Brown kept an interest in aviation and its progression until she passed away in 1992.
Sources
- Gubert, Betty Kaplan, Miriam Sawyer, and Caroline M. Fannin. (2002). Distinguished African Americans in Aviation and Space Science. Westport, CT: Oryx Press.
- Homan, Lynn M. and Thomas Reilly. (2001). Black Knights: The Story of the Tuskegee Airmen. Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publishing Company, Inc.
- Smith, Jessie Carney. (1996). Notable Black American Women Book 11. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, Inc.
Maureen Zieber - I currently hold a Bachelor's Degree in World History, and Women's Studies, with a minor in Anthropology from the University of Delaware, ...
