Jill E. Brown (born 1950) is a retired American pilot, who is the first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

woman to become a pilot for a major American passenger airline.

Early life and education

Jill Elaine Brown was born to Gilbert and Elaine Brown in 1950 in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. By the age of 11, she had begun driving a

forklift A forklift (also called lift truck, jitney, hi-lo, fork truck, fork hoist, and forklift truck) is a powered industrial truck used to lift and move materials over short distances. The forklift was developed in the early 20th century by various c ...

at her father's construction company, and at the age of 17 joined her other family members in taking flying lessons. She was the first of her family to earn her pilot's licence, with her first solo flight taking place in a Piper J-3 Cub. She then began flying the family owned Piper PA-28 Cherokee, named the ''Little Golden Hawk''. After attending

Arundel High School Arundel High School is a public high school located in Gambrills, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C., and Baltimore within Anne Arundel County. The school is part of the Anne Arundel County Public School system, and is the primary high schoo ...

, she went to the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

, where she studied home economics at the suggestion of her mother.

Career

Afterwards, she began working as a teacher but decided to pursue flying as a career, joining the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

in 1974 for flight training. Brown was the first African-American woman to undergo the training. Her admittance, and her swearing in by

Tuskegee Airman The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of primarily African American military pilots (fighter and bomber) and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332d Fighter Group and the 477th Fighter Group, 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) of the ...

Spann Watson Spann Watson (August 14, 1916 – April 15, 2010) was an American military aviator and civil servant who served with the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II. He flew over 30 missions in North Africa, Italy and Southern Europe. On March 2007, Watso ...

was heavily covered in the African-American media. She disliked being in the military, and left with an honourable discharge after six months. Brown admitted that she couldn't "keep her mouth shut" and made some major mistakes. She felt humiliated when she left, and initially refused to leave her home. She convinced Warren H. Wheeler of

Wheeler Airlines Wheeler Airlines was the operating name of Wheeler Flying Service (WHAA), the first black-owned airline certificated in the US by the FAA, which also helped integrate the pilots at major US air carriers by qualifying a large number of black pilots ...

to give her a job, initially as a ticket-counter clark but Brown as Wheeler had no pilot vacancies. Eventually she worked her way into a pilot's position. From her private hours and working at Wheeler, she managed to amass the 1,200 flying hours required to fly for a major airline. In 1978, she joined

Texas International Airlines Texas International Airlines Inc. was a United States airline, known from 1940 until 1947 as Aviation Enterprises, until 1969 as Trans-Texas Airways (TTa), and as Texas International Airlines until 1982, when it merged with Continental Airlines. ...

as a pilot, becoming the first female African-American pilot for a major US airline. However, she felt she was being used for publicity purposes by the airline. She left Texas after a year, joining the cargo carrier

Zantop International Airlines Zantop International Airlines, Inc., was a United States airline incorporated in May 1972 as a Michigan corporation, the stock of which was 100% owned by the Zantop family. History Zantop traces its origins to 1946 when the Zantop family set up Z ...

, and worked there until 1985. In 1990, she filed a lawsuit against

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

for refusing to hire her on three occasions, but the case was found in favor of the airline even after an appeal.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Jill E. 1950 births Living people People from Baltimore United States Naval Test Pilot School alumni University of Maryland, Baltimore alumni African-American women aviators American women aviators African-American aviators American women commercial aviators 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women Aviators from Maryland 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women