When Bessie Coleman made her U.S. barnstorming debut in 1922, her exhibition flights inspired more African Americans to become aviators. Over the next few decades, Black women took to the skies, earned licensines, and did their best to integrate the burgeoning aviation industry. The challenges of researching these women often keeps them out of the history books. Piecing together their stoies takes time, energy, perseverance, and trust. In this program IWASM welcomes U.S. Air Force (ret.) and cultural historian Monica Smith to discuss her mission to document and share the stories of these remarkable women.

Monica Smith is a Washington, D.C. native, U.S. Air Force Lt. Colonel (ret.), and freelance cultural historian. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction Writing from Goucher College, a Master of Arts in Teaching, and a Master of Public Administration. Her MFA thesis surveyed the first fifty years of African American aviation. After leaving the military, Smith began writing about African American and women aviation pioneers. Her mission to document stories before history leaves them behind led her to the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum. She was an A. Verville Fellow, and led the Military Women Aviators Oral History Initiative. Smith has edited newsletters for the 39th Flight, Daedalians (a fraternal organization of military aviators) and The East Coast Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. Commercially, her articles have been published in The Washington Times digital magazine, American CurrentSee, and The Afro American Newspapers.