Segregated Skies: David Harris's Trailblazing Journey to Rise Above Racial Barriers Cottman Michael

It was 1964 and black men didn't fly commercial jets. After receiving rejection after rejection, he finally signed on with American Airlines in 1964. But David Harris was about to change that ...After years of flying B-52 bombers in the United States Air Force, David Harris applied to be a pilot for commercial airliners, an opportunity no other African American before him---not even the famed Tuskegee Airmen---had ever been afforded.

As a light-skinned, light-eyed Black man, David was told by many people he could have passed for white. But this success was just the beginning of another uphill battle for equal treatment.It was the height of the civil rights movement, a time of massive protests as people struggled to end racial segregation and give Black people equal rights. But he didn't do that.

Instead, he made the bold decision to disclose his race to his employers