After graduating from Spellman College with a nursing degree, in 1933, she enrolled in the Curtiss Wright Aeronautical School in Chicago. The only woman along with 24 men admitted to the aircraft mechanics school. They were all black, but apparently the men didn't give her much credit until she earned her private pilot’s license and bought an airplane she shared with other students.

​​​​​​​Janet Harmon 
 

Janet wanted to fly planes from the time she was a young girl and saw a billboard with the words: “Birds Learn to Fly. Why Can’t You?” But with her pilot's license in hand and her own plane, she still wasn't allowed to take off and land at most airports.

“Aviation was not considered to be a suitable pursuit for blacks, who were deemed unable, both mentally and physically, to fly safely,” she said.

She and other students at Curtis Wright went looking for a site to build their own airfield and found one in Robbins, Illinois, a black town about 20 miles from Chicago. She contributed money to help buy the land, clear it and construct a landing strip. Inspired by Bessie Coleman, they formed "Challenge Aero Club" and Janet became president.

You might have heard of Bessie Coleman as the first American black woman to become a licensed pilot in 1921, but she had to go to France to do it. 

Janet not only got her wings on U.S. soil, she helped other blacks take to the sky, too. She wrote articles publicizing "Negro Flight" in the black newspaper, the Chicago Defender. And the Aero Club pilots held flying exhibitions to share their passion, show their skill and whet people's appetite for the sport.

She easily passed the exam to become a commercial pilot, but the flight examiner refused to give her the certificate. “I’ve never given a colored girl a commercial pilot’s license,” he said. “I don’t intend to now.”

She must have thought she had a chance when she applied for the Tuskegee Institute’s black Civilian Pilot Training Program. This time she had the right skin color. She passed the airborne test. But she was denied because she was female.

“There were so many things they said women couldn’t do and blacks couldn’t do,” she told the Chicago Tribune in her later years. “Every defeat to me was a challenge.”

Janet was finally able to get her commercial license in 1943, from Palwaukee Airport in Cook County, Ill.

In 1946, she purchased a Super Cruiser, in which she logged many hours of cross-country flying, while also venturing into the nursing home business to care for black elders when she saw the need, “[people] living on pads on the floor, with insufficient care . . . often with inadequate food and medical attention. Here they could live in dignity, in pleasant surroundings, eat well, and have good care.”

She continued to fly for pleasure into the 1970s and was active in civic, charity and educational events for many years. In 1985, she received the Bishop Wright Air Industry Award for her outstanding contribution to aviation. The award is named for the father of Wilbur and Orville Wright.

Janet died in 1993 and was inducted into the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame in 2000.

“According to recognized aero technical principles, the bumblebee cannot fly because of the shape and weight of its body in relation to its total wing area," she's quoted saying by the Arizona Daily Star. 

But the bumblebee doesn’t know this, so it goes ahead and flies anyway! Surely our bodies were not designed to fly, but our brains were, and we flew, too.”

She had obvious brains, earning a college nursing degree, graduating from CW Aeronautical University and doing postgraduate work at Loyola University and the University of Chicago, as well as working with students and educational programs through the years.

She also had heart. Courage. Generosity. Passion. Those give you wings.

Amanda Jones has been called a groomer, a pedo, and a porn-pusher; she has faced death threats and attacks from strangers and friends alike.

Her decision to support a collection of books with diverse perspectives made her a target for extremists using book banning campaigns-funded by dark money organizations and advanced by hard right politicians-in a crusade to make America more white, straight, and "Christian." 

But Amanda Jones wouldn't give up without a fight: she sued her harassers for defamation and urged others to join her in the resistance... That Librarian draws the battle lines in the war against equity and inclusion, calling book lovers everywhere to rise in defense of our readers.

Amanda speaks for librarians across the country who're being vilified for standing up for the right to read.

Learn more here... 

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