Born: 24 March 1907, United States
Died: 11 April 1993
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Janet Harmon Waterford Bragg, Jane Nettie Harmon
The following is republished from the Federal Aviation Administration. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
Two women, Willa Brown and Janet Harmon-Bragg, took (Bessie) Coleman’s legacy and soared, proving themselves against the double-headed hydra of racism and sexism. Harmon-Bragg studied under (Cornelius) Coffey and (John) Robinson as the only woman in a class of 24 in 1933. She worked as a nurse at several hospitals and used her money to buy three planes, which she and her fellow CAPA members used to practice flying.
Though she had many hours of flight training and later became the first Black woman to earn her pilot’s license in the U.S. and later earned her commercial license, she was denied her license at first and was turned down by the Women Airforce Service Pilots in WWII. She would continue to fly for many years and helped further the Black aviatrix legacy through her advocacy.
Brown earned her pilot license in 1938, her commercial license in 1939 and earned her Master Mechanic Certificate in 1935. A flight instructor and advocate, she helped organize an air show featuring African American pilots. Later, she would be the cofounder and director of the Coffey School of Aeronautics and would continue the tradition of pushing flight opportunities for African-Americans. These opportunities came as America transitioned to war. Brown lobbied First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to allow African Americans to fly for the US Army. While the effect of Brown’s campaign are open to debate, resulting legislation opened the possibility for the Coffey school to provide training for pilots. Some of these pilots would go on to fly in
the famous 99th Fighter Squadron, known more popularly as the Tuskegee Airmen.
Throughout WWII, Brown and others in the Chicago African American flight culture continued to push for greater equality. In large part due to Brown’s advocacy by March 1942, the Civil Air Patrol stood up the first desegregated unit Civilian Air Patrol unit, members of which came primarily from the Coffey school and for which Coffey was the squadron commander and Brown as a second lieutenant. Though the school would close after the war, the mark it made on aviation and for equality is immense and lasting.