American Wings: Chicago's Pioneering Black Aviators and the Race for Equality in the Sky

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Reading American Wings provides students with many powerful opportunities to deepen understanding of the complexity of our full American story, learn about and discuss race, racism, and ongoing efforts to advance racial and social justice, and how to share a vision and share the work to achieve that vision.

Making more stories of historical and contemporary Black pilots available can also help inspire others to explore aviation and reach for the skies. 

Have students work in pairs to identify and research a Black aviator to be the subject of a picture book biography that they will write and illustrate together. Provide students with examples of other picture book biographies and encourage them to note the format and style as well as features they will want to include in their own books, such as a bibliography. You may want to read a title aloud to the entire class to get them thinking about how to weave biographical information into story lines that will grab the attention of their readers and offer facts that will help provide context. You may also want to offer lessons on descriptive language and narrative arc. 

As student pairs develop their draft, have them think too about the images they want to include and how they help tell their subject’s story. Give students freedom to illustrate as they see fit, using photographs, pictures they draw, or images they make with a graphics creator.

Making a physical book should be the goal so that students can share and read their books with a younger audience. Consider collaborating with a nearby elementary school, your local public library, or even a science or children’s museum if that is an option for hosting a special read aloud event.

Questions for Discussion or Reflective Writing

1. Why did many Black Americans flock to aviation? How were war, politics, and Black identity tied to both flight and the fight for integration? What impact did Black aviators have on our society?
2. Before reading American Wings, what did you know about the accomplishments of these trailblazing south Chicago pilots? What different aspects of Black history did you discover? Why do you think you haven’t heard all their stories before? What did reading American Wings make you curious to learn more about?
3. What kinds of qualities are important for a person to have if they want to achieve an important goal? What qualities do Cornelius Coffeey, Johnny Robinson, Janet Harmon Bragg, and Willa Brown have? Describe how each fought for equality in their own way. What are your big and small ideas for effective ways to bring racial and social justice to our communities, our country, and the world? Which strategies are best for bringing about the changes we want to see?
4. What was your awareness of the Tuskegee Airmen before you read this book? What ideas about the Tuskegee Airmen did this book change for you? Why was Tuskegee willing to segregate their program while the Coffey School was not? What impact did that have on the military and on society?
5. What ended the momentum the Chicago aviators had? Were you surprised at the way the work they did together stopped and they went their separate ways? 
6. Black Americans are still a minority in the field of aviation. Why do you think Black Americans are still underrepresented? What have you learned from the book about ways discrimination and privilege shaped and continue to mold our society?

Related Resources

Educator Guide for American Wings from Penguin Young Readers
Discussing Race and Racism in the Classroom from Facing History & Ourselves