Akron Public Library

"During World War II, black Americans were fighting for their country and for freedom in Europe, yet they had to endure a totally segregated military in the United States, where they weren't considered smart enough to become military pilots. After acquiring government funding for aviation training, civil rights activists were able to kickstart the first African American military flight program in the US at Tuskegee University in Alabama. While this...

Incredible as it may seem today, until the mid-1960s major U.S. airlines refused to hire African-American pilots. It took Marlon DeWitt Green to challenge - and ultimately change - the entrenched system of segregation in the airline industry.

"This narrative follows David Harris's turbulent path to become the first African-American commercial airline pilot in the U.S., presented against the backdrop of racial tensions, protests, and the landmark civil rights legislation of the 1960s"--

Publisher Annotation: Sometimes history is made by a dyslexic, mischievous boy who hates school, is a descendant of one of Frederick Douglass? half-sisters, and whose Pops was a Buffalo Soldier. In I Wanted to be a Pilot, one of the less than 100 living Documented Original Tuskegee Airman, Franklin J. Macon, tells the lively stories of how he overcame life?s obstacles to become a Tuskegee Airman. Soar through history with Franklin as he conquers dyslexia,...