Brown, Willa, 1906-1992

Willa Brown (b. Jan. 22, 1906, Glasgow, KT–d. July 18, 1992, Chicago, IL) was the first African-American woman to earn her pilot's license in the United States, the first African-American woman to run for the United States Congress, the first African-American officer in the US Civil Air Patrol, and the first woman in the United States to have both a pilot's license and a mechanic's license. Before learning to fly she worked as a high school teacher and a social worker. Brown studied with Cornelius Coffey; later the two married and established the Coffey School of Aeronautics in Chicago. Brown, Coffey, and Enoch P. Waters formed the National Airmen's Association of America in 1939 and continually lobbied the government for integration of black pilots into the segregated Army Air Corps and the federal Civilian Pilot Training Program. Brown eventually became the coordinator of war-training service for the Civil Aeronautics Authority and later was a member of the Federal Aviation Administration's Women's Advisory Board.