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Jaggar, Louisa , Becker, Shari

Sprouting Wings: The True Story of James Herman Banning, the First African American Pilot to Fly Across the United States

48 pp. | Crown | January, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-1-9848-4762-1 $17.99 | Library ISBN 978-1-9848-4763-8 $20.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-1-9848-4764-5 $10.99
(2) K-3 Illustrated by Floyd Cooper. James Herman Banning, an African American living in Canton, Oklahoma, in the early 1900s, wanted to fly, especially after learning that the Wright Brothers had taken to the skies for sixteen and a half minutes in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in October 1905. At the Excelsior Library (the first Oklahoma library for Blacks), he read about how "flying machines" stayed aloft. In 1911, young James saw "birdman" Charles Walsh fly at the fair and climbed aboard his craft when no one was looking. After World War I began, Banning attended Iowa State for one year then opened an automobile repair business at age twenty-one, through which he met Lieutenant Raymond Fisher, a pilot, who taught James to fly. Despite racist discrimination and finances that limited his access to the best equipment, Banning, along with Black mechanic Thomas Cox Allen, became the first African American to fly the 3,300 miles from Los Angeles to New York, stopping in towns that would welcome Black aeronauts. Everyone who supported their journey signed the wing of their plane, the Eaglerock. Cooper's signature illustrations, highly textured oil-on-board, reveal Banning's passion for flight and his determination to spend as much time as possible in the air. The prominence of brown hues centers Black lives in this story, while equally impressive blues keep readers looking skyward. An entertaining, exquisitely illustrated biography of a Black aeronaut who should be as well known as the Wright Brothers. An author's note, quotation sources, newspaper articles by Banning, interviews, documents, and further reading are appended.
Reviewer: Michelle H. Martin | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2021

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