Today on #WorldPilotsDay, i’ll highlight black pilots who broke barriers 👨🏿✈️👩🏿✈️
—A THREAD—
In 1921, Bessie Coleman became the first black licensed pilot.
When she developed an interest in flying, women and people of color had no flight training opportunities in the… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Willa Brown was the first black woman to earn both a pilot's license and a commercial license. (Bessie got hers in France)
Marlon D. Green, was an Air Force Pilot who fought to desegregate the Airline Industry. He became the 1st black pilot hired by a major airline.
Jill E. Brown became the first female African-American pilot for a major US airline in 1978 when she joined Texas International Airlines as a pilot.
Ahmet Ali Celikten was the world's first black fighter pilot.
He served in the air forces of the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey. He was a veteran of World War 1 and the Turkish War of Independence.
Jesse L. Brown was the first black US Navy pilot. He flew 20 combat missions before being shot down in 1950 during the Korean War.
Eugene Jacques Bullard was the first African American military combat pilot. Often referred to as the “Black Swallow of Death” for his courage during missions, he faced incredible obstacles to become the only African-American pilot in World War 1.
He grew up in Georgia, flew for France in BOTH world wars, ran a Paris nightclub, spoke 3 languages and unironically owned a pet monkey.
Special mention to the Tuskegee Airmen became the first African American flying unit in the U.S. military and fought in World War II.
The Tuskegee Airmen epitomized courage and heroism.
Lt. Col. Harry Stewart Jr. is one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen of World War II.
He survived 43 combat missions during World War II and is one of only a dozen remaining Tuskegee Airmen from the famed “Red Tails” fighter group still alive.
In 2001, Shawna Rochelle Kimbrell became the first Black woman to serve as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force.
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On this day in 1921, The Tulsa Race Massacre happened in the affluent black community of Greenwood in Tulsa (Black Wall Street)
White supremacists killed more than 300 Black Americans and looted & burned to ground homes & businesses.
History of Tulsa before the riot
A THREAD
Ottawa W. Gurley created the Black Wall Street, the affluent black community in Greenwood in Tulsa.
Ottowa Gurley was born in 1868 to freed slaves in Huntsville, Alabama, Gurley grew up in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He was self-educated and eventually married his childhood sweetheart, Emma. After a brief time as a teacher, he worked at U.S. Postal Service.
In 1969, the Black Panthers launched free breakfast programs across the US, feeding thousands of kids before school. The FBI called it a threat. In some cities, police raided kitchens, smashed food, and urinated on supplies to shut them down.
A THREAD
In January 1969, the Black Panther Party launched their Free Breakfast for Children Program, their first and most notable community effort, to feed kids who went to school hungry due to poverty. It was radical care in action. But the FBI called it a threat.
The Black Panthers, founded in 1966, built programs to tackle systemic issues like poverty and hunger. The Free Breakfast Program was a direct response to families unable to feed their kids before school. It aimed to nourish bodies and minds for learning.
Founded in 1964, The Deacons for Defense & Justice was an armed Black self defense group who stood up against the KKK & discriminatory treatment by police in the Jim Crow South
Though they supported the values of MLK, they didn’t subscribe to his nonviolent philosophy
A THREAD
On July 10, 1964, a group of black men in Jonesboro, Louisiana led by Earnest “Chilly Willy” Thomas and Frederick Douglas Kirkpatrick founded the group known as The Deacons for Defense and Justice.
As the black leaders began to rise to the occasion in the Deep South, conflict was sure to come knocking. The deacons provided security for black leaders all over the south. They worked closes with king though he preached non violence.
On this day in 1920, The Elaine Race Massacre inquiry began, addressing the killing of 200+ Black sharecroppers. A blood-thirsty gang of white soldiers led the deadliest massacre in U.S. history in 1919.
-The Elaine Massacre-
A THREAD
On September 30, 1919, Black sharecroppers gathered at a church in Hoop Spur, near Elaine, led by Robert L. Hill of the Progressive Farmers and Household Union. They sought better cotton payments from white plantation owners who dominated during the Jim Crow era.
Tensions were high and they had posted guards at the church door. When two deputized white men and a black trustee pulled into view and shots fired. One of the white men was killed, the other wounded.
On this day in 1863, Black Americans began fighting for the U.S. Army after the creation of Bureau of Colored Troops. Those who served and loved the country that did not love them back.
Military History of African Americans.
A THREAD
Black Americans participated in every American war from the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican–American War, the Civil War, the Spanish–American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War.
Thousands of black troops, made up of both free men and enslaved, fought in the continental war. They were promised freedom for fighting but those promises were often broken.
American medicine has been built upon the abuse of black people with no oversight.
I'll revisit a few cases of how Black people were abused in the field of medicine.
A THREAD!
The Tuskegee syphilis Experiment: It began in 1932. In the syphilis study, doctors were trying to find out more about syphilis test subjects (impoverished African American men), and didn't treat them for syphilis even after they knew penicillin could cure the infection.
The infected men involved in the study were never made aware of their condition upon diagnosis and believed they were being treated for "bad blood".