Emory Conrad Malick, who studied at the Curtiss Aviation School on North Island, San Diego, received his pilot’s license in March 1912, when he was 31 years old, making him not only the first known African-American pilot, but also the first black person to get a pilot’s license in the United States—some 14 years before aviator James Herman Banning, who was long thought to be the first. Once Groce has finished her book, she hopes to donate Malick’s papers to the National Air and Space Museum. In the meantime, she has given the Museum copies of various items.
Comments