Non Fiction Book Reviews #124

SOARING ABOVE SETBACKS:

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JANET HARMON BRAGG

by Janet Harmon Bragg & Marjorie M. Kriz

She was born Jane Nettie Bragg, the youngest of seven children, who changed her name to Janet when she was eight-years-old. Janet grew up in Griffin, Georgia in 1907 and her father was a brick contractor. After graduation from Fort Valley in 1925 Janet then went to Spellman College in Atlanta, unlike her sister who attended the Tuskegee Institute. She majored in nursing and graduated well trained for that career, but unprepared for the working world's hardship and injustices. She worked a month in a hospital that was segregated with blacks forced to the basement where they received inferior care. She then moved to Rockford, Illinois where her sister lived and after a year of no jobs she became a private duty nurse and hated it. Janet then became the night supervisor at Wilson Hospital in charge of the emergency room and continued her education. She then got a job at the Chicago Metropolitan Assurance Company where she stayed for ten years as heath inspector. The 1920s and '30s were the golden age of aviation that both races participated in, although except for Bessie Coleman, there were no black women in aviation. Then Janet got the bug and learned how to fly. In 1933 Janet was one the first woman among 27 African Americans admitted into the Aeronautical University and in 1934 she soloed and got her private pilot's license becoming the first black woman to earn a federal commercial pilot's license. In 1939 the Challenger Air Pilots' Association, an organization that she help start, approached the U. S. Congress to allow blacks to be part of the Civilian Pilot Training Program. One of their supporters was Senator Harry S. Truman who helped them change the policies of the CPTP. Despite her skills as a pilot and her educational level, Janet was rejected by the Women's Auxiliary Service Pilots because she was black. In 1944 Janet started the first of two nursing homes in Chicago's South Side. After World War II, when Ethiopian students started coming to the U. S., Janet became their guide to the American way of life. Along the way she became a friend of Emperor Haile Selassie and well respected by many. by the time Janet Harmon Bragg died in 1993 she had been well honored for the pioneering work she had done.

EAST TO THE DAWN:

THE LIFE OF AMELIA EARHART

by Susan Butler

At a fine Gothic house on First Street in Atchison, Kansas Amy Earhart gave birth of her daughter on July 24, 1897, she was name Amelia (for her mother and grandmother) Mary (for her father's mother) Earhart. Up to the age of three Amelia lived with her parents in Kansas City, Kansas and then moved in with her grandmother Amelia Otis in Atchison because her grandmother needed companionship after the tragic deaths in the family. Amelia would stay with her grandmother until the eight grade. Atchison was a good place for Amelia to grow up in, she was able to engage in her tomboy ways. But all this came to an end because of her father's drinking problem and the Earhart family moved to Des Monies where they lived for four years in four different houses. Edwin's drinking problem got worse as the years progressed, but Amelia tried to be a loving daughter. The next move was to St. Paul, then to Springfield, Missouri, until Amy and her daughters Amelia and Muriel moved to Chicago while Edwin tried to get his act together. they arrived in Chicago in the summer of 1914 where Amelia, 17, completed her high school education. In 1917 Amelia was in Toronto where she saw the war wounded and joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment to be a nurse. While being a nurse a deadly influenza epidemic hit North America and Amelia began nursing those hit hard until she fell ill with pneumonococal bacterial infection and with no antibiotics Amelia would suffer with the illness for the rest of her life. In 191 Amelia, at twenty-one, enrolled in Columbia University but due to money problems left and movie to Los Angles, California where her family was living. In California she was bitten by the aviation bug that would hold her for the rest of her life. By 1921 she was flying and entering air contest that were all the rage in southern California. With the Earhart divorce, Amelia moved to Boston to work at the Denison Home as a social worker. She continued her flying and on May 25, 1927 did a publicity flight for the Denison House. Because of the publicity George Putnam choose her to be the first woman to be part of the team to fly across the Atlantic, although she little regard for just being a passenger. In February 1931 Amelia and George were married and Amelia continued setting new records as a flyer and a champion for women's rights. On May 21, 1932, five years after Charles Lindbergh's flight, Amelia flew across the North Atlantic, solo. Along with flying and giving speeches, Amelia found time to design designer clothes. On July 24, 1936, her 39th birthday, Amelia took delivery of the Electra that she would attempt her round-the-world-flight. Due to the crash of the Electra in Hawaii, Amelia had to change the direction of her world flight from west to east. It was on the last leg of the flight that Amelia's Electra disappeared. As Susan Butler points out the Electra's limited navigational equipment was unable to find Howland Island and Amelia died at sea. A marvelous biography that tells the definitive story of the life and times of Amelia Earhart.

QUEEN BESS:

DAREDEVIL AVIATOR

by Doris L. Rich

On January 26, 1892 in the town of Atlanta, Texas Bessie Coleman was born. Bessie's parents, George and Susan, were probably born in Georgia as slaves and migrated to Texas before Bessie's birth. The world that Bessie entered was one of poverty and racism. African Americans were the victims of fear, rage, and repression. This was Bessie's world. When she was six Bessie started school in a one-room school that was hot in the summer and cold in the winter and in a segregated black residential district. Her world changed in 1901 when her father left the family. At 45, Susan was left with four small girls, the older boys had moved to Chicago. While Susan was working Bessie became a surrogate mother, but Susan was still there to provide Bessie with a role model and made sure she continued her education. In 1915 Bessie left Texas for Chicago to live with her brothers. Even in Chicago there was as much racism as the was down South, but at least there was more opportunity. Bessie became a manicurist doing men's nails at a barbershop where her looks and charms got her generous tips. It was a good time to live in Chicago where the great black performers of the day could be found practicing their trade. On January 30, 1917 Bessie married a man who was fourteen years her senior, why she married him was unclear and many didn't know she was even married. In 1919, at the age of twenty-seven, Bessie decided to become a pilot. Robert Abbot, editor-publisher of the Chicago Defender, told her to go to France to learn how to fly because the French were the leaders in aviation and not racists. In 1921 Bessie finally arrived in France and graduated on June 15, 1921 and got her license from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) which gave her the right to fly anywhere in the world. As the first black woman pilot, Bessie became a hero to the black communities in the United States. After a second stay in France Bessie returned to the United States to become a barnstormer, lecturer, and an advocate for the rights of blacks to become aviators. In late 1923 Bessie bought a Curtiss JN-4 that stalled after takeoff with the plane being completely demolished with Bessie badly injured. After recovering from her injuries Bessie began her routine of barnstorming, lecturing, and advocating. On April 30, 1926 Bessie was in the rear seat of her newly purchased JN-4 when the plane went into a tailspin and Bessie, without her seat belt on, was thrown out of the plane to fall to her death. Bessie's body was returned to Chicago where she was buried in Lincoln Cemetery on Kedzie Avenue. Bessie Coleman was the first African American to earn an international pilot's license and led the way to the future. A good biography of an aviator who should never be forgotten for what she accomplished.

DAUGHTER OF THE AIR:

THE BRIEF SORARING LIFE OF CORNELIA FORT

by Rob Simbeck

It was not yet eight o'clock on Sunday December 7, 1941, and Cornelia Fort was flying. She and a student pilot had risen from the runway of Honolulu's John Rogers Airport into a brightening blue sky. Since October 1941, she had been working at Honolulu's Andrew Flying Service.. He student, Sumala, was practicing takeoffs and landings in an Interstate Cadet when a squadron of Japanese fighters filled the sky. One attacked the little, unarmed Cadet and Cornelia was barley able to get the plane safely down. Bob Tyce, a civilian and manager of the airport, was killed as were other civilians and servicemen. Cornelia survived, but because she was a woman she could not fight in the war. Dr. Rufus Elijah Fort, Cornelia's father, was one of the founder's of the National Life and Accident Insurance in Nashville and had a 365-acre estate called Fortland. Cornelia Fort was born on February 5, 1919 and by the time she was five she was gangly and tomboyish. For Cornelia life at Fortland was comfortable where she had plenty of space for tomboyness and bookishness. By the time Cornelia was thirteen, she had shot up to her full height of 5 feet 10 inches. She had inherited her father's strong jaw and height forehead, very independent, and highly intelligent. She was not about to conform to anybody's perception. This meant that she had a hard time in the 1930s Nashville social life. She was an indifferent student when the subjects didn't interest her, and Latin, math, and science all feel into that category. when it came time for college Dr. Fort sent her to the all-female Ogontz School and Junior college. The school's most celebrated student had been Amelia Earhart. After a year Cornelia transferred to Sara Lawrence although she would not graduated. In the winter of 1940 Cornelia took her first plane ride and decided to learn how to fly. It didn't take her long before she decided to make flying her profession. Cornela received her commercial license on February 8, 1941, becoming only the second Nashville woman ever to do so. She then moved to Fort Collins, Colorado to be a flight instructor. It was because of the Civilian Pilot Training Program that Cornelia was allowed to teach flying. By July, wanting to be more involved, she went to Honolulu to teach flying. On March 1, 1942 Cornelia returned to the mainland where she was interviewed for her account of her Pearl Harbor experience as part of a campaign to sell war bonds. Wanting to fly for her country she joined the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron. After training Cornelia and the other members got to do their duty for their country. Ferrying planes throughout the United States that had its moments of boredom, tension, but always fun. It all came to an end for Cornelia Fort on March 21, 1943 when her plane hit another. Cornelia, at twenty-four, became the first woman pilot to die on active duty in U. S. history. Cornelia and the other WAFS opened the door for all women how have been allowed to be professional pilots.

AMELIA EARHART'S DAUGHTERS:

THE WILD AND GLORIOUS STORY OF AMERICAN WOMEN AVIATORS FROM WORLD WAR II TO THE DAWN OF THE SPACE AGE

by Leslie Haynsworth & David Toomey

On February 3, 1995 Space Shuttle Discovery launched . The pilot of this shuttle was Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Eileen Collins the first female pilot in the history of the space program. Colonel Collins brought aboard the Shuttle symbols of women's aviation past: A scarf that belonged to Amelia Earhart and the silver wings of the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II. Although most people don't realize it, the history of women's aviation is a rich and full one. In 1911 the first female pilot was Blanche Stuart Scott who was trained by aviation pioneer Glenn Curtis. Soon there was more and with hundreds of surplus Curtis Jennies on the market, there were soon pilots with many being women. There was the black woman aviator Bessie Coleman who would inspire many. There was Amelia Earhart who championed women's rights and was always trying to set new records. In August 1929 at the first Women's Air Derby, twenty-six pilots met to form a national organization of women pilots. Ninety-nine women joined originally and so they became the Ninety-Nines. Her name was just Jackie, she gave herself the last name of Cochran since she did not have a last name of her own. By 1929, Jackie had a thriving beauty salon in Pensacola when she moved to Manhattan to start her own cosmetics company. Although it didn't happen like she wanted, by 1933, at least she had learned to fly and was entering air races. Jackie was a friend of Amelia and when Amelia disappeared it hurt her greatly. On the eve of World War II General "Hap" Arnold was in charge of the Army Air Corps started the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP) to provide Arnold with the pilots he would soon need. This civilian program was opened to all, regardless of race or sex, so about three thousand of the CPTP students were young women. for the women the CPTP meant inexpensive flying lessons and for the Army Air Corps the women were the perfect camouflage. But the thought of putting a woman in the cockpit of a military plane was unthinkable by all. In 1941 Jackie Cochran and a crew of three flew a Lockheed Hudson bomber to Scotland. With the attention that her flight received President Roosevelt had a study done to have women pilots fly for the Army Air Corps. Arnold decided that the Army Air Corps had no need for female pilots due to costly adjustments in accommodations and training. Then came the attack on Pearl Harbor and with war on two fronts, the need for women in cockpits came Abbott. In June 1942 came the Air Transport Command that established the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Division (WAFS)used to study the idea of recruiting women to fly Air Force planes. One thousand women served their country as WAFS, logging over six million miles in all kinds of weather and in every aircraft in the inventory of the Army Air Corps. But after the war the women were let go. In 1961 a handful of female pilots became part of the "Women in Space" program. But men like John Glenn and Scott Carpenter mixed that idea. It would not be until 1995 that a woman would pilot a space craft. A fascinating account of the role of women aviators and the struggle they went through and still do.

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