The Organization of Black Airline Pilots (OBAP) promotes the participation of African Americans and other minorities in the commercial aviation industry, through meetings with airline industry leaders, congressional lobbying initiatives, scholarship programs initiatives, job placement services, and the compilation of statistics on airline hiring practices.
For two decades after World War II, African American pilots struggled with little success to enter the commercial air transport industry, though a handful did manage to obtain positions, such as Perry H.Young Jr. and James O. Plinton. In 1956 New York Airways, a scheduled helicopter airline, hired Young as a pilot. A year later Plinton began a career as an airline executive, and he held key positions with Trans World Airlines and Eastern Air Lines until his retirement in 1979. But despite these advances, most African American pilots met stubborn resistance when they sought employment with commercial air carriers. After pilot Marlon D.Green won an employment rights suit against Continental Airlines in the mid-1960s, major airlines began to hire qualified black pilots. Still, the number of African American commercial pilots remained disproportionately small.
In 1976, thirty-seven black airline pilots met in Chicago to address the problem. Under the leadership of Benjamin Thomas, an African American pilot with Eastern Air Lines, they formed the OBAP and dedicated themselves “to advancing and enhancing the participation of blacks and other minorities in the aviation industry, especially as pilots.” Working cooperatively with other groups interested in promoting wider African American participation in aviation, such as the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc., and the Negro Airmen’s Association, the OBAP initiated several programs aimed at encouraging young African Americans to prepare themselves for careers in commercial aviation.
Since its establishment, membership in the OBAP has never exceeded one thousand. The organization, headquartered in Atlanta, holds semiannual conferences and pub-lishes a bimonthly newsletter.
FURTHER READINGS
Hardesty, Von, and Dominick Pisano. Black Wings: The American Black in Aviation. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1983.
Ho, Rodney. “Pilot Inspires Others to Follow Her Lead.” Atlanta Constitution, 25 January 1995 sec. D, p. 3.
Thurston, Scott. “Blacks Are Still Rare in the Cockpit.” Atlanta Constitution, 20 August 1993.
U.S. House Committee on Appropriations. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations for 1994: Hearings before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, Part 7, Testimony of Members of Congress and Other Interested Individuals and Organizations. 103rd Congress, 1st session, 1993.
U.S. House Committee on Government Operations. Discrimination Against Blacks in the Airline Industry: Joint Hearing before Certain Subcommittees of the Committee on Government Operations. 99th Congress, 2nd session, 30 September 1986.
