Black History

Jesse Leroy Brown: Proof of Persistence

From his days as a sharecropper in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, James Leroy Brown (1926−1950) dreamed of becoming a pilot. In school, he excelled at math and became a top athlete. This level of determination was his ticket to enter Ohio State University in 1944

Published

2 years ago

April 2, 2023

Oakland Post

On Oct. 21, 1948, Brown became the first African American man to complete Navy flight training. A story with the headline First Negro Naval Aviator was published the following day. It was quickly picked up by the Associated Press, and Brown’s photo appeared in Life magazine.

By Tamara Shiloh

On leaving Hattiesburg, Brown’s high school principal penned a letter to him saying: “As the first of our graduates to enter a predominantly white university, you are our hero.” And that hero worked even harder to remain there. To earn money to pay for his education, Brown worked a midnight shift on the Pennsylvania Railroad. After loading boxcars all night, he worked on maintaining a high GPA during the day.

To help pay his tuition, Brown joined the Naval Reserve after seeing a recruitment poster on campus. Students were being sought for a new naval aviation program. People around him only offered discouraging remarks, telling Brown that he would “never make it to the cockpit of a Navy aircraft.” But the comments only fueled his desire to not only apply but be accepted. It took persistence, but he was finally permitted to take the qualification exams.

Brown underwent five hours of written tests, several oral tests, and a physical that proved rigorous. Yet he made it through every step. Afterwards, he wrote to a childhood friend: “I’m not sure the Navy really wants me.” But in March of 1947, he received orders to Selective Flight Training in Glenview, Ill., and later to additional training at Naval Air Station Ottumwa and Naval Air Station Pensacola.

Assigned to fighter squadron VF-32 aboard USS Wright where he served as section leader, Brown flew a Vought F4U-4 Corsair. In Oct. of 1950, the squad was a part of Fast Carrier Task Force 77 and deployed to Korea to assist U.N. forces.

It was Dec. 4, 1950, when Brown’s voice was heard over the radio: “I think I may have been hit. I’ve lost my oil pressure.” Soon after, he crash-landed his Corsair on the side of a snowy mountain. His wingman, Lt. Thomas J. Hudner Jr., realized something was wrong — Brown hadn’t emerged from the cockpit.

Hudner brought his Corsair down, where he discovered Brown trapped in his aircraft, bleeding and in pain. Trapped in his cockpit by a damaged instrument panel, Brown could not be rescued. He asked Hudner to tell his wife, Daisy, how much he loved her before he died.

Brown’s shipmates honored him with a warrior’s funeral. He posthumously received the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, and the Purple Heart.

Learn more about Brown, Hunder, and their friendship during the Korean War in the YA adaptation “Devotion: An Epic Story of Heroism and Friendship,” by Adam Makos.

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Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

Published

3 days ago

June 2, 2025

Oakland Post

Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.