William Jennifer Powell is a pioneer aviator and civil rights activist, along with James Banning and the first woman of African-American and what descent, to hold a pilot license?
William J. Powell William Jenifer Powell (July 27, 1897 – July 12, 1942) was an American engineer, soldier, civil aviator and author who is credited with promoting aviation among the African American community. Along with Bessie Coleman and James Banning, he is recognized as a pioneer aviator and a civil rights activist. Powell was optimistic about the prospects of African-Americans in aviation, and believed that their involvement in the industry would help end racial prejudice at a time of widespread segregation under the Jim Crow laws.
Barbara Rose Johns Barbara Rose Johns Powell (born March 6, 1935– died September 25, 1991) was a young, American civil rights leader-pioneer and the niece of one of the "fathers of the Civil Rights Movement," Vernon Johns. On April 23, 1951, at the age of 16, Powell led a student strike for equal education at R.R. Moton High School in Farmville, Prince Edward County, Virginia. After securing NAACP legal support, the Moton students filed "Davis v. Prince Edward County", the largest and only student initiated case consolidated into "Brown v. Board of Education", the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring "separate but equal" public schools unconstitutional.