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Chapter 3 Giant Steps T he early thirties were painful years for many American citizens. For Negroes, however, they were even more so-it was physically unhealthy and psychologically debilitating even to survive in America. Even more remarkable, then, were the survival tactics and the resiliency exhibited by the Negro community. The hard times developed men and women of character and daring, individuals who pushed at life's outer seams and frontiers to achieve freedom. This was especially true of those who wanted to fly airplanes. There were several individual Negro men and women who performed daring feats as pilots, parachutists, and wingwalkers for Negro crowds. Leon Parris, a Haitian, was the first man of African descent to fly long distance, over 2,400 miles, from New York to Haiti, in April 1932.1 Hubert Julian still excited crowds at air shows. Women pilots, such as Marie Dikerson of Los Angeles and Janet Waterford of Chicago, were extending the tradition started by Bessie Coleman.2 These individuals who dared to live beyond the limitations imposed by white society, served as role models for other young African Americans. Two men responsible for the first concerted efl()rt to teach aviation skills to the Negro community were J. Herman Banning and William Powell. The nation's first Negro aero club was formed by these two men in Los Angeles in 1929.3 J. Herman Banning was from Ames, Iowa, and was educated at Iowa State University. He became adept at repairing cars and motorcycles and went into the business of selling them. He eventually became bored with the speed limitations of land vehicles and sought a career in aviation. He received his flight training at Fisher Flying Field in Des Moines, Iowa, and received his private pilot's license In 1924. While taking flight instruction, Banning was one of the first 35 36 Double V African Americans to build his own airplane and to test the product himself.4 Shortly after receiving his pilot's license, Banning left his auto business and headed for California to make a living flying cargo and giving air shows. William Powell, a native of Oklahoma and a World War I veteran officer , owned a gasoline station in Chicago in the 1920s. At his full-service station, Powell repaired motorcycle and automobile engines. When his business began to fail, Powell left Chicago and settled in Los Angeles to become a business fixture in the fledgling Negro community in Southern California.5 Not long after arriving in Los Angeles, Powell met J. Herman Banning, a fellow auto mechanic and entrepreneur. Through Banning, Powell developed an interest in aviation. Although Powell was not a personal acquaintance of Bessie Coleman in Chicago, he, like many auto mechanics and upwardly mobile African Americans, was affected by her courage and artistry and sought to emulate her. Banning gave Powell flying lessons and, shortly thereafter, Powell received his pilot's license.6 Bessie Coleman's death, in 1926, affected Banning and Powell. Not long after Coleman's tragic accident, they attempted to interest more African Americans in the Los Angeles area in aviation. Banning and Powell both had a strong sense of community worth and responsibility to the race. Banni.ng, especially, who would later write about his feelings on why the world could not deny the Negro, was aware of the potential in the untapped resource of wealth and creativity flowing in the minds of Negroes.i By the end of the twenties, Banning and Powell had succeeded in forming the first organized Negro aviation group, which they named the Bessie Coleman Aero Club, in honor of the late aviatrix.s The Bessie Coleman Aero Club attracted Negro men and women, mechanics and would-be pilots. The aviators were able to find some land, which they converted into an airport they named the Bessie Coleman Airport. They repaired old airplane engines, converted automobile engines, and designed and built their own planes from spare parts. The Bessie Coleman Aero Club, under the watchful eyes of Banning and Powell, assisted members in acquiring flight instruction and the necessary flight time to qualify for a pilot's license. The Club participated in air shows and flying exhibitions sponsored by and given to both white and integrated audiences. The Aero Club's primary interest, however, was to increase the interest in aviation among Los Angeles ~egro youths. In Los Angeles, on Labor Day 1931, the Bessie Coleman Aero Club gave the first known, all-Negro air...

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