Soaring Above Setbacks: The Autobiography of Janet Harmon Bragg African American Aviator (Smithsonian History of Aviation and Spaceflight (Paperback))

Rating:
Summary: "If Jack can do it, so can Jill"
Review: This was the motto of Janet Harmon Bragg's father as he raised his children at the turn of the century. Janet was taught never to let her sex or her race get in her way. She was trained as a nurse at Spelman College and went on to become a pilot, and even helped found flying schools and clubs for African American aviators. The book is not completely focused on her flying days, and it would have been interesting to hear more about that, but we learn about her nursing career, the homes for the elderly that she and her husband operated, and the many African young people she took under her wing when they came to study in the United States. These people went on to become leaders in their own countries, and she visited them throughout the world in her later years. The book is neither difficult nor long (112 pages), and Ms. Bragg's narration has an infectious upbeat tone. I recommend it as reading for young people, especially young people of color, who are just beginning to think about the possibilities that life may hold for them.