caption death_date birth_place birth_date spouse image article_title name
brown patrol as a lieutenant in the u.s. civil air 18 july 1992 glasgow , kentucky january 22 , 1906 wilbur hardaway cornelius coffey `` , serves her country by training pilots for the u.s. willa army air forces . - nara - 535717.jpg beatrice brown , a 31-year-old negro american willa brown
 willa brown
willa brown

willa beatrice brown -lrb- january 22 , 1906 -- july 18 , 1992 -rrb- was an american aviator and educator .
willa brown chappell was born in glasgow , kentucky and was a 1927 graduate of the indiana state teachers college with a degree in education .
she received an m.b.a. from northwestern university in 1937 .
as a young high school teacher in gary , indiana , and later as a social worker in chicago , willa brown felt that her talents were not being used to their greatest use ; she sought greater challenges and adventures in life , especially if they could be found outside the limited career fields normally open to african americans .
she decided to learn to fly , studying with cornelius r. coffey , a certified flight instructor and expert aviation mechanic at one of chicago 's racially segregated airports .
in 1938 , she became the first african american woman who earned a private pilot 's license in the united states .
-lrb- fellow chicagoan and aviator , bessie coleman had to go to france for her licence in 1921 -rrb- .
later , brown and coffey married and established the coffey school of aeronautics at harlem airport in chicago , where they trained black pilots and aviation mechanics .
together with cornelius coffey and enoch p. waters , willa brown helped form the national airmen 's association of america in 1939 , whose main goal was to get black aviation cadets into the united states military .
as the organization 's national secretary and the president of the chicago branch , brown became an activist for racial equality .
she continually lobbied the government for integration of black pilots into the segregated army air corps and the federal civilian pilot training program -lrb- cptp -rrb- , the system established by the civil aeronautics authority to provide a pool of civilian pilots for use during national emergencies .
subsequently , when congress finally voted to allow separate-but-equal participation of blacks in civilian flight training programs , the coffey school of aeronautics was chosen for participation in the cptp .
brown became the coordinator for the cptp in chicago .
later , her flight school was also selected by the u.s. army to provide black trainees for the air corps pilot training program at the tuskegee institute .
willa 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 .
she was the first black female officer in the civil air patrol and the first black woman to hold a commercial pilot 's license in the united states .
in 2010 , ms. brown was awarded the distinguished alumni award by the indiana state university alumni association .
