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.
Freedom Riders Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated southern United States, in 1961 and subsequent years, in order to challenge the non-enforcement of the United States Supreme Court decisions "Morgan v. Virginia" (1946) and "Boynton v. Virginia" (1960), which ruled that segregated public buses were unconstitutional. The Southern states had ignored the rulings and the federal government did nothing to enforce them. The first Freedom Ride left Washington, D.C., on May 4, 1961, and was scheduled to arrive in New Orleans on May 17.