The Segregation of U.S. Airports

Typically when we discuss how The United States segregated public transportation we usually think of buses and trains systems. We are told the story of Rosa Parks and countless others that were defiant in the movement to show our human right to use public services. Buses were one of the main forms of transportation during the time of Jim Crow laws so there was more controversy over Whites sitting in the front, and Blacks only allowed in the back of the bus. The air travel industry and its involvement with segregation is rarely mentioned, but you can imagine there were similar laws put into place when it came to airports. 

Airport facilities were segregated up until about the end of WWII, however they were not legally allowed to separate people when they were in the cabin area of airplanes. At the time air travel was seen as the new cosmopolitanism, allowing passengers to go further and faster to discover a new destination. In the 1950s and 60s airports only desegregated because of political pressure since they were federally funded entities. Airports were considered local therefore they had the authority to  segregate terminals, restaurants, and bathrooms inside. Airport restaurants would force African American travelers to sit behind a 7 foot wooden screen. Airports needed the grant money from the Federal Aid Airport Program so they had no choice once it came to integration. At the same time, however, laws established by the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938 prohibited discrimination of airline passengers on the basis of their race. In 1953, the NAACP began surveying airport space in an effort to document the existing segregated facilities.

Integration was achieved only because airports depended upon the money they received through the Federal-aid Airport Program (FAAP), funds were used for the construction of new airports. To receive a grant, applicants had to agree to the Civil Aeronautics Administration’s anti-segregation regulations: Funds would be denied for the construction of airport facilities which were to be used on a racially segregated basis. The rule would apply to new construction as well as remodeling and repair of existing facilities; those cities that violated the conditions were subject to lawsuit.

In 1948 Rep. Charles C. Diggs Jr. of Michigan tried to desegregate the federally owned Washington National Airport. Efforts from politicians forwarded He wrote to the presidents of major airlines and asked for them to support him, this began a slow process of desegregating airports. Efforts made by politicians assisted in the forward movement of the desegregation of airports. Shreveport, Louisiana was the last segregated airport in The United States as of July  1963. African American travelers also experienced difficulty when applying for passports but that did not discourage our desire to travel. 

Airlines did not allow African Americans to fly their aircrafts or work as crew until the 1960s. It was very difficult for African Americans to get their pilot license and some went overseas to learn how to fly planes. Bessie Coleman was the first African American and Native American female descent to earn her pilot license. She would have to earn her license in France because none of the aeronautical facilities would teach minority women how to fly. Bessie earned her license in 1921 and when she came back to the United States she became an airshow pilot. Eugene Jacque Bullard made history as the first Black military pilot. He was borned in Columbus, Georgia but found his way to London and shortly settled in France afterwards. When World War I started he fought for France and received his license in 1917. James Banning was the first African American Pilot to fly across the United States. In 1926 he flew from a small airport in Los Angeles and landed in Long Island, New York. Then there is Cornelius Coffey who was the first to found a non-university affiliated flight school. Him and his wife started the Coffey School of Aeronautics in Illinois.  At this flight school they trained many Black pilots, including many of the Tuskegee Airmen. 

In general African Americans were discouraged to travel in the South and segregation laws helped make that possible. Although racial discrimination and poverty limited black car ownership, the emerging African American middle class bought automobiles as soon as they could. They tried to avoid public transportation or air travel because they could be subjected to danger. We have seen numerous bus boycotts in our history with the most infamous being the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This boycott lasted 381 days and they created carpool systems to provide alternative transportation for African Americans boycotting public transportation systems. Many of these boycotts were the result of cities increasing bus fares to discourage Blacks from riding. A company in 1963 Bristol England would not hire Blacks and a boycott lasted for 4 months until they changed their discriminatory hiring process. Adam Powell led a boycott against two private Manhattan bus lines because they refused to hire any Black people. A 1-month boycott which eventually led the hiring of 200 Black workers by transit authority.

The Negro Motorist Green Book was created as an annual guidebook for African American Travelers. It was originated and published by African American, New York City mailman Victor Hugo Green and was around from 1936 to 1966, during the era of Jim Crow Laws. Many black Americans took to driving, in part to avoid segregation on public transportation.The Green Book was written in response to this and was a guide to services and places relatively friendly to African-Americans. The Green Book eventually expanded its coverage from the New York area to much of North America, as well as founding a travel agency.

African-American travelers faced many hardships such as white-owned businesses refusing to serve them or repair their vehicles, being refused accommodation or food by white-owned hotels, and threats of physical violence and forcible expulsion from whites-only areas.  Realizing the success and need for The Green Book in the Black Travel Community Green expanded the work to cover most of North America, including most of the United States and parts of Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda. The Green Book became "the bible of black travel during Jim Crow, allowing black travelers to find lodgings, businesses, and gas stations that would serve them along the road. At the time Whites were unaware that The Green Book existed which was an advantage to Black Travelers and those listed in the book. The book lost its popularity shortly after the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1965, which made it unconstitutional for the refusal of services based on race. There has been a revived interest in it in the early 21st century in connection with studies of black travel and wanting to support Black-owned businesses. 

On November 25, 1955, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), a federal agency that regulates railroads and other transporters of goods, banned racial segregation on interstate buses, train lines, and in waiting rooms. The ICC ruled that “the disadvantages to a traveler who is assigned accommodations or facilities so designated as to imply his inferiority solely because of his race must be regarded under present conditions as unreasonable.” The ban was consistent with a 1946 United States Supreme Court decision, Morgan v. Commonwealth of Virginia, which held that a state law requiring segregation on interstate buses traveling through the state was unconstitutional.

We have seen the Black Travel Movement become popular through the way of social media. This is important The stereotype is that Black people don’t travel and that simply is not true even when you look at our history. With restrictions and laws that were used to make it hard for us to travel and work in the industry we still found ways around that. 

There are multiple organizations that promote Black Travel and provide guided group trips to different countries.