March 4, 2023 Astronauts & Pilots

Astronauts


On August 30, 1983, Guion (better known as Guy) Bluford was a crew member aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger when it launched from Kennedy Space Station on its third mission, making Bluford the first Black astronaut to fly to space.




Pilots

Eugene Jacques Bullard

Eugene Jacques Bullard is America's first Black pilot to fly in combat, and the only African American pilot in World War I. Although born in Columbus Georgia, Eugene didn't serve in the United States military. When WWI began in 1914, Eugene had already made his way to Europe and enlisted in the French Foreign Legion.

Gabriel Carothers

Gabriel Carothers, 17, is no stranger to flying high as aviation sparked his interest early in life. “My father had a family friend who had an airplane that used to fly us,” Carothers explained. “So, he thought it'd definitely be interesting to take me and my brother up for a flight when we were 5 and 6 years old.”

"Leaving a trail behind and leaving a path for other kids to follow really lightens up my heart, and to make sure that they have a future no matter what they do,” Carothers said.

The teen said he wants to learn to fly vintage aircraft next and participate in airshows, then head to the Air Force Academy.
*****

Here are 10 noteworthy Black pilots who were pioneers of their generation.

Bessie Coleman: First African American and Native American Female Pilot

Hailing from both African American and Native American descent, Bessie Coleman (1892-1926) was the first female from both ethnic heritages to earn her pilot license. But because there were no aeronautical facilities that would teach minority women to fly in America, Coleman had to earn her license in France, which she did in 1921.

When she returned to the States, she became a celebrity and built her career as an airshow pilot. Although she had big dreams of starting an African American flying school, she died during a test flight in 1926.
*****

Eugene Jacques Bullard: First African American Military Combat Pilot

James Banning: First African American Pilot to Fly Across America

Cornelius Coffey: First Aviation School Founder

Willa Brown: First African American Woman to Earn a Pilot License in the U.S.

The Tuskegee Airmen: First Black Military Aviators in the U.S. Armed Forces

Robert Lawrence: First African American Astronaut

Guy Bluford: First African American Astronaut in Space

Mae Jemison: First African American Woman in Space

Emory Malick: First Black Pilot (but some historians disagree)



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

If It Were Leap Year

Image
Politicians Hiram Revels In 1870 Hiram Revels of Mississippi became the first African American senator. Five years later, Blanche K. Bruce of Mississippi took the oath of office. Born in North Carolina in 1827, Revels attended Knox College in Illinois and later served as minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Baltimore, Maryland . Frederick Douglass In 1848, Frederick Douglass became the first African-American presidential candidate of the US. His candidacy largely preceded black suffrage and coincided with legal slavery in the U.S.  Barack Obama In 2009, Barack Obama became the first Black-American presidential candidate nominated by a major party, namely the Democrats. Lawrence Douglas Wilder Lawrence Douglas Wilder (born January 17, 1931) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 66th Governor of Virginia from 1990 to 1994. He was the first African American to serve as governor of a U.S. state since the Reconstruction era, and the first African Americ...
Read more

Feb. 22 Harriet Tubman

Image
Harriet Tubman Born enslaved in Dorchester County, Maryland, Tubman was beaten and whipped by her various masters as a child. Early in life, she suffered a traumatic head wound when an irate overseer threw a heavy metal weight intending to hit another slave, but hit her instead. The injury caused dizziness, pain, and spells of hypersomnia, which occurred throughout her life. After her injury, Tubman began experiencing strange visions and vivid dreams, which she ascribed to premonitions from God. These experiences, combined with her Methodist upbringing, led her to become devoutly religious. In 1849, Tubman escaped to Philadelphia, only to return to Maryland to rescue her family soon after. Slowly, one group at a time, she brought relatives with her out of the state, and eventually guided dozens of other slaves to freedom. Traveling by night and in extreme secrecy, Tubman (or "Moses", as she was called) "never lost a passenger".[3] After the Fugitive Slave Act of 185...
Read more

April 30, 2023 First Black Republican U House of Representatives, Joseph Rainey

Image
JOSEPH HAYNE RAINEY (1832-1887) In 1870 Republican Joseph Hayne Rainey became the first African American to be elected to the United States House of Representatives and take his seat.  Others were elected earlier but were not seated.  Rainey was born in Georgetown, South Carolina, on June 21, 1832. His parents had been slaves but his father purchased his family’s freedom and taught him to be a barber. The family moved to Charleston in 1846.  Rainey, however, traveled frequently outside the South and married in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1859. In 1861 Joseph Rainey was drafted to work on a Confederate blockade runner during the Civil War. In 1862 he escaped to Bermuda with his wife and worked there as a barber before returning to South Carolina in 1866. Once back in the state, he joined the executive committee of the newly formed South Carolina Republican party.  In 1868 he was elected a delegate to the state Constitutional Convention. Two years later in 1870 Raine...
Read more