Charles Blatcher, III Chairman | National Coalition of Black Veterans’ Organizations 

   Oakland, CA…. Black Veteran Leaders and representatives will meet at the National Museum of African American History in Washington DC., on September 30, 2022, at 11: o’clock AM. The leaders will call on the National Museum to explain its decision to deny the Coalition of Black Veterans request to erect a statue of the legendary Buffalo Soldier Brigadier General Charles Young on the public Museum grounds. We believe the property is the proper location for historical reasons. It is a sad commentary that we must fight for equal recognition as Black Veterans in a facility that was initially requested to be established by Black Veterans. 

     There is an historical footprint leading to the creation of the National African American Museum of History and Culture. The original call for the National Museum came from Black Veterans following World War I. The conversation was interrupted by the Great Depression. The idea briefly resurfaced by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but faded with his death in 1968. The idea was reintroduced in a modified form through another group of Black Veterans in 1978.  The National Minority Military Museum Foundation began the advocacy to develop a National Minority Military Museum. Our advocacy was visible in 1986 when the late Congressman John Lewis submitted legislation calling for a national museum in its broader scope. His legislation languished for seventeen years until then, President George W. Bush signed it into law in December of 2003. When signed the legislation enveloped the subject of Black Military History. The Foundation and its coalition of veteran organizations halted its calls for a Military Museum  to demonstrate a willingness to work with the government under the mandate of the Legislation.  We were aware  of the importance of the subject and the need for it to be recognized in a national institution. 

By 2003, we had led a highly visible advocacy for then twenty-five years calling for the National Minority Military Museum. The visibility of our advocacy gained us a seat on the national museum’s preliminary planning body. The invite came through the Department of Interior.  However, we were only included in the decision to establish the institution’s Civil Rights theme and received assurances Black Military History would have a gallery in the proposed national facility. The finished result of the gallery leaves much to be desired. We have yet to receive an explanation as to why the Black Military History Gallery is the smallest display area in the museum. However, military history is the cornerstone of the Civil Rights Movements. In an institution where the average gallery size is seven thousand square feet, the Military History gallery was reduced in size by fifty-eight percent. The three thousand square feet gallery covers Black participation in five branches of the Armed Forces plus the Revenue Cutter Service over a span of two hundred and fifty years of intermittent service. By comparison, the replica of Oprah Winfrey’s theater in the museum is ten thousand square feet. It is three times (plus) one the size of the Black Military History Gallery. A  disparity that many people find questionable and for some offensive.  The museum is three hundred and sixty thousand square feet in size. The Museum’s denial of the request to provide a place for the statue on the property is another question Black Veterans are seeking explanation. It cannot be an issue of space; we are talking about one hundred square feet of land on a five acre piece of property. We have invited the Supervisory Curator of Collections to explain to the public why the statue is not a good fit for the museum grounds. We invite an explanation of what appears to be institutional indifference regarding the subject of Black Military History. 

The Coalition invites the public to join us at Arlington National Cemetery on September 30, at the Tanner Amphitheater. The program will be to deliver the Final Report on the campaign that led to then Colonel Charles Young’s  promotion to Brigadier General. The program will be from 2:o’clock to 4:o’clock pm.  Veteran Organization members are asked to wear your Colors. 

Petition · Black Veterans call for statue of B-Gen Charles Young on National AA Museum grounds in DC. · Change.org 

By Camm Ashford 

To honor the 100th anniversary of Bessie Coleman, the first Black woman to earn a pilot’s license, American Airlines operated a flight out of Dallas with an all-Black, all-female crew.

From the pilots and flight attendants to cargo team members and aviation maintenance technicians, the Bessie Coleman Aviation All-Stars operated and took charge of every aspect of the historic flight from Dallas to Phoenix.

“Of course, I was honored and humbled when I was invited to participate in the all-Black female  crew assembled to honor Ms. Coleman’s legacy,” said Customer Service Agent Denise Ashford.  “The organizers have vowed to keep her memory alive through a diversity and inclusion organization. We will be discussing our experience with the Bessie Coleman project as well as challenges we face as Black women in aviation.”

Additionally, the historic 737 flight crew included

Beth Powell, pilot, and First Officer Charlene Shortte. Coleman’s great-niece, Gigi Coleman, was also aboard the flight to help celebrate her legacy.

Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman was born on Jan. 26, 1892. The 10th of 13 chidren who were a family of sharecroppers in Texas, Coleman worked in the cotton fields at a young age while also studying in a small segregated school. 

With the encouragement of Robert S. Abbott, publisher of the Chicago Defender, Coleman learned French and saved up money from her work, first as a manicurist and then a manager of a chili parlor. In November 1920, she gained entrance into the Caudron School of Aviation in Le Crotoy, France. 

On June 15, 1921, Coleman obtained her pilot’s license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, and after some additional training in Paris, she returned to the United States in September 1921.

With the age of commercial flight still a decade or more in the future, Coleman quickly realized that in order to make a living as a civilian aviator she would have to become a “barnstorming” stunt flier, and perform for paying audiences.

Committed to promoting aviation and combating racism, she used her influence in the following years to encourage other African Americans to fly–even refusing to perform air shows at locations that would not admit African Americans.

“Queen Bess,” as she was known, died tragically on April 30, 1926, at age 34, preparing with another pilot for an air show that was to take place in Jacksonville, Fla. that day. At 3,500 feet, an unsecured wrench got caught in the control gears, causing her Curtiss JN-4 (Jenny) plane to crash. Coleman, who was not wearing a seatbelt, fell to her death.

While there was little mention in most media, news of her death was widely carried in the African American press. Ten thousand mourners attended her ceremonies in Chicago, which were led by activist Ida B. Wells.

“She bravely broke down barriers within the world of aviation and paved the path for many to follow,” the airline said of Coleman in a written statement .

Ashford said the airlines is being intentional in its efforts to diversify the flight deck, and “dedicated to increasing the numbers of female African American pilots.” 

Black women have been “notably underrepresented in the aviation industry,” she noted.

Black women currently represent less than 1% in the commercial airline industry.

Customer Service Agent Denise Ashford was part of an All-Black female crew that helped operate an American Airlines flight from Dallas to Phoenix paying tribute to trailblazer Bessie Coleman.