SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Air and Space Museum is opening a new permanent exhibit aimed at honoring pioneering Black American aviators and astronauts.
The exhibit, 'Breaking Barriers," features animatronics of Brigadier General Benjamin O. Davis recounting the stories and achievements of some of America's most decorated and recognized Black aviators and astronauts.
Davis was the first Black American who was promoted to brigadier general during World War II. He was instrumental in racially integrating the Air Force and flew combat missions during World War II and again in the Korean conflict. Davis was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum in 1996.
Among the aviators featured in the exhibit are:
- Vernice Armour -- The first Black American female naval aviator and first female combat aviator in the Marine Corps.
- James Herman Banning and his mechanic, Thomas Cox Allen -- The first Black Americans to fly across the United States on October 9, 1932.
- Guion Stewart Bluford Jr. -- The first Black American to travel to space on August 30, 1983.
- Janet Harmon Bragg -- The first Black American female to earn a commercial pilot’s license in 1942.
- Willa Beatrice Brown -- The first Black American female to earn a pilot’s license within the United States and the first Black American officer in the Civil Air Patrol.
- Eugene Jacques (James) Bullard – Who flew for France during World War I as the first Black American military pilot.
- Elizabeth (Bessie) Coleman -- The first Black American female and first Indigenous American to receive a pilot’s license on June 15, 1921. (Coleman was inducted into the prestigious International Air & Space Hall of Fame in 2014.)
- Mae Carol Jemison -- The first Black American female to travel into space on September 12, 1992.
- Lloyd W. (Fig) Newton -- The first Black American pilot in the United States Air Force Demonstration Squadron known as the Thunderbirds. (Newton was inducted into the prestigious International Air & Space Hall of Fame in 2018.)
- William Jenifer Powell – A pioneering advocate of Black aviation in the United States.
“The San Diego Air & Space Museum is proud of its long history of honoring and recognizing the contributions of pioneering Black American aviators and astronauts, both through the exhibits in our Museum and through the prestigious International Air & Space Hall of Fame,” said Jim Kidrick, President & CEO of the San Diego Air & Space Museum. “The new “Breaking Barriers” exhibit is a natural permanent extension of our long-standing salute to the Tuskegee Airmen through our P-51 Mustang, which is painted with their famous distinctive Red Tail Squadron design, as well as through the Black American innovating aviators we honor in the Hall of Fame on display at our Museum every day.”
The Breaking Barriers exhibit opened on Friday, October 13 at the Air and Space Museum in Balboa Park.