Sherri L. Smith and Elizabeth Wein-AMERICAN WINGS

Sherri L. Smith, author of the critically acclaimed story Flygirl, and Elizabeth Wein, author of the award-winning book Code Name Verity, join forces in AMERICAN WINGS (G.P. Putnam’s Sons) to shed light on an important and lesser-known chapter in Black aviation history and Black contributions to aviation during the Golden Age of Flight.

In the years between World War I and World War II, aviation fever was everywhere, including among Black Americans. But what hope did a Black person have of learning to fly in a country constricted by prejudice and Jim Crow laws, where some previous Black aviators like Bessie Coleman had to move to France to earn their wings?

AMERICAN WINGS follows a group of determined Black Americans:  Cornelius Coffey and Johnny Robinson, skilled auto mechanics; Janet Harmon Bragg, a nurse; and Willa Brown, a teacher and social worker. Together, they created a flying club and built their own airfield on Chicago’s South Side. As the U.S. hurtled toward World War II, they established a school to train new pilots, teaching both Black and white students together and proving, in a time when the U.S. military was still segregated, that successful integration was possible.

Complete with black-and-white photographs throughout, AMERICAN WINGS brings to light a hidden history of pioneering Black men and women who, with grit and resilience, battled powerful odds for an equal share of the sky.

ABOUT THE ELIZABETH WEIN: Elizabeth Wein (LEFT) is a recreational pilot and the owner of about a thousand maps. She is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Code Name Verity, as well as the novels Rose Under Fire; Black Dove, White Raven; The Pearl Thief; and The Enigma Game; as well as the nonfiction book A Thousand Sisters: The Heroic Airwomen of the Soviet Union in World War II. Visit her online at elizabethwein.com.

ABOUT THE SHERRI L SMITH: Sherri L. Smith (RIGHT) is the author of several novels for young adults, including the critically acclaimed The Blossom and the Firefly, Flygirl, Orleans, and Pasadena, as well as the middle-grade novel The Toymaker’s Apprentice. Visit her online at sherrilsmith.com

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