This comprehensive look at efforts to get Black aviators off the ground in the early and mid-20th century centers on Cornelius Coffey and Johnny Robinson, two men at the heart of the Chicago-based Black aviation movement. Robinson and Coffey’s flight paths were sometimes parallel, sometimes divergent, and eventually at odds. Something the two men agreed on was an integrated flight school; despite their own struggles to be accepted at white schools, they wanted to train both Black and white pilots. The ways this both helped and harmed their efforts across the years is part of what is chronicled in this detailed account of their dreams, their efforts, and the times in which they lived. The work Robinson and Coffey did together and separately had an immense impact nationally and globally. Coffey lobbied his alma mater, Tuskegee Institute, to develop a flight training program—a precursor to the history-making Tuskegee Airmen—and later went to Ethiopia at the invitation of Emperor Haile Selassie to establish an air force to help the country’s effort to stop an Italian invasion in the 1930s. Both men helped countless pilots—Black and white—learn to fly. The contributions of Janet Harmon Waterford and Willa Brown, who worked with Coffee and Robinson on organizing and providing opportunities for Black flyers in Chicago, are an important part of this hefty tome that includes occasional black-and-white photographs and rigorously documented end notes.

From the acclaimed author of Flygirl and the bestselling author of Code Name Verity comes the thrilling and inspiring true story of the desegregation of the skies.

“This beautiful and brilliant history of not only what it means to be Black and dream of flying but to, against every odd, do so, completely blew me away.” —Jacqueline Woodson, National Book Award Winner for Brown Girl Dreaming

In the years between World War I and World War II, aviation fever was everywhere, including among Black Americans. But what hope did a Black person have of learning to fly in a country constricted by prejudice and Jim Crow laws, where Black aviators like Bessie Coleman had to move to France to earn their wings?

American Wings follows a group of determined Black Americans: Cornelius Coffey and Johnny Robinson, skilled auto mechanics; Janet Harmon Bragg, a nurse; and Willa Brown, a teacher and social worker. Together, they created a flying club and built their own airfield south of Chicago. As the U.S. hurtled toward World War II, they established a school to train new pilots, teaching both Black and white students together and proving, in a time when the U.S. military was still segregated, that successful integration was possible.

Featuring rare historical photographs, American Wings brings to light a hidden history of pioneering Black men and women who, with grit and resilience, battled powerful odds for an equal share of the sky.