Jesse Leroy Brown was born in 1926 to sharecroppers in the segregated South. An outstanding student and top athlete, he set his sights on becoming a Navy pilot despite the resistance of his family and the rampant Jim Crow laws. Brown went on to become the first black man to fly a Navy fighter and make a carrier landing. Based on archival documents and interviews with those who knew Brown, this is both a stirring story of a man breaking historic racial barriers and a thrilling tale of naval carrier aviation and combat.
Jesse Leroy Brown was born in 1926 to sharecroppers in the segregated South. An outstanding student and top athlete, he set his sights on becoming a Navy pilot despite the resistance of his family and the rampant Jim Crow laws. Brown went on to become the first black man to fly a Navy fighter and make a carrier landing. Based on archival documents and interviews with those who knew Brown, this is both a stirring story of a man breaking historic racial barriers and a thrilling tale of naval carrier aviation and combat.
