Description: Jesse Leroy Brown was raised in the segregated South by a hard-working, loving family who instilled values of dignity, education, and perseverance. A star athlete and an outstanding student, he was determined to become a Navy pilot, although such a thing was unheard of for a black man in the 1940s. Undeterred, he entered Ohio State University, rather than a black college, and was able to qualify for the Navy reserve and was accepted into the Naval Air Training School at Glenview, Illinois. Despite racism, and open hostility by many of his superior officers, he finally reached his goal, flying a Navy fighter plane and landing it on a carrier -- the first African-American ever to do so.

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