Advertisement leaf with portraits of a "National Board of Directors," including Dr. Curtis King, Alvin C. Gary, Lieut. William J. Powell, Claude DeM. Lewis, and an image of 5 women pilots, 1930s

Item Overview

Title

Advertisement leaf with portraits of a "National Board of Directors," including Dr. Curtis King, Alvin C. Gary, Lieut. William J. Powell, Claude DeM. Lewis, and an image of 5 women pilots, 1930s

Alternative title

Black Aviation

Date Created

[1930s]

Date

1930/1939

Collection

Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections

Notes

Description

William J. Powell created the Bessie Coleman Flying School in the 1930s. The image of the women pilots in this advertisement also appears, in fuller form, in an advertisement for Craftsmen of Black Wings, and the same women appear in an image of the members of the Bessie Coleman Aero [Aeronautics] Club, also founded by Powell.
Claude DeM Lewis was a civil engineer and a New York city civic leader.
Dr. N. Curtis King was a physician who graduated from Meharry Medical School (1924) and founded the Rose Netta Hospital in Los Angeles. It was known for having an interracial staff, and the first interracial blood bank, established by the Red Cross in 1942. Dr. King was also head of the Los Angeles Venereal Clinic and several other clinics.
William J. Powell 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. [Wikipedia]
Alvin C. Gary, a graduate of Cooper Union Institute, was an electrical engineer, inventor and civic leader in the city of New York.
Advertisement, perhaps for the Bessie Coleman Flying School, with four portrait photographs of a board of directors, including Dr. Curtis King, Alvin C. Gary, Lieut William J. Powell, Claude DeM. Lewis, and a photograph of five licensed women pilots wearing flight caps and goggles.

Caption

Caption: National Board of Directors. Licensed pilots.

Physical Description

Extent

1 photograph

Keywords

Genre

advertisements

Names

Gary, Alvin C. (Alvin Charles), b. 1899
King, N. Curtis (Norris Curtis), 1894-1960
Lewis, Claude DeM (Claude Antoine De Mond), b. 1889
Powell, William J., 1899-1942

Resource type

still image

Subjects

African American physicians
African Americans in aeronautics
African American engineers
African American air pilots
African American women air pilots