The First Female Black Pilot in Texas Turns 105

Azellia White may be 105 years old, but she clearly remembers becoming the first African-American woman to receive her Texas pilot’s license. (Note: fellow African-American pilot Bessie Coleman received her license in France). This kindly centenarian made history as the first female black pilot in the Lone Star State! Born in Gonzales, Texas, in 1913, White married and then moved with her husband Hulon “Pappy” White to Alabama where he worked as a mechanic with the Tuskegee Airmen, an all African-American pursuit squadron based in Tuskegee. One day in 1941, then-First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt came to visit the airfield and asked, despite Secret Service objections, to fly with one of the African-American pilots. After flying for an hour with one of the pilots, Eleanor Roosevelt was so impressed that she recommended deployment of the squadron into World War II.