Existing comment:
Air Travel and Segregation
"All of these incidents I witnessed with my own eyes."
-- Charles C. Diggs Jr.
African Americans could choose to fly, but few did. Many airport facilities were segregated and discrimination was widespread.
Few members of minority groups flew before World War II. But as the economy rapidly expanded and the number of minority-owned businesses increased, more people of color began to fly. In doing so they often encountered discrimination.
While the airlines were not legally segregated, airports often were. Throughout the South, inferior airport accommodations discouraged African Americans from flying. Until the Civil Rights movement began to bring about change, air travel remained mostly for whites. |