A look at pioneers and current aviators breaking the color barrier

While progress has been made in making aviation opportunities available to blacks since World War II, when the Tuskegee Airmen became an institutional part of the industry's - and the nation's - history, it's clear there is still room for more progress.

According to the Organization of Black Airline Pilots (OBAP), black pilots at major national, regional and commuter passenger airlines and freight carriers make up just one percent of the 70,000 U.S. pilots in the U.S. The number is up from 80 black pilots in 1976 and 400 in 1986.

In honor of Black History Month, we pay tribute to those black aviators who came before us, profile those who continue to make a difference today, and outline the imperatives faced by the industry to continue making progress toward an aviation industry that is open to all sectors of society. The implications of this issue, according to industry observers, are not just social and cultural - but strategic and financial as well.

Any company that has not learned to appreciate the importance of a diverse work force need look no further than the changing demographics of America. The U.S. Office of Employment predicts that 29 percent of the U.S. labor force will be composed of minorities by 2008.

There's no doubt black aviation pioneers like Bessie Coleman, Alfred "Chief" Anderson, Eugene Bullard and the rest of the Tuskegee Airmen have left their mark on the aviation industry. In forging new ground for today's black aviators, they wrote the opening chapter in the slowly evolving story of diversity in the ranks of aviators and executives in the aviation industry.

With the ruling in a landmark 1963 U.S. Supreme Court Case, Marlon Greene succeeded in smashing the color barrier by becoming the first black hired by a major U.S. passenger airline (Continental). Before this decision, black aviators were denied the right to be certified as pilots in the United States. Even the 992 combat-qualified graduates of the Tuskegee program were deemed unqualified to be pilots for the nation's major passenger airlines.

Since then many organizations have formed including the Organization of Black Airline Pilots (OBAP), Tuskegee Airmen Inc. (TAI), Black Wings in Aviation and the Negro Airmen International (NAI). Important goals of these groups are to increase minority participation in aviation through exposure, training, mentoring and scholarships, all to try to increase the pool of qualified employees.

Here we feature brief oral histories from the early pioneers who broke the color barrier and current pilots in the skies. We welcome your feedback. -- patricia_brown@aviationnow.com