The Unrecognized First
Emory Malick, the first African-American pilot, wasn't known to historians until recently.
- By Rebecca Maksel
- Air & Space magazine, March 2011
Mary Groce's detective work confirmed Emory Malick, her great-uncle, to be the first known African-American aviator. Emory's 1912 student photo.
Courtesy Malick Family Collection
In 2004, Pennsylvania native Mary Groce was going through a box of family papers with her cousin Aileen when she found a sheet of old letterhead for an “Emory C. Malick, Licensee: Pilot No. 105.” Included on the letterhead was a photograph of a handsome young man in a Curtiss pusher-type airplane.
Groce handed the letterhead to her cousin, asking: “Have you ever seen this photo of our great-uncle Emory?” She recalls her cousin’s surprise: “Aileen looked at the paper and replied, ‘Oh my God. He’s black.’ ”
Since that day, Groce has been researching her great-uncle’s story, and is now writing a book about him, which she hopes to publish next year. “I was never told about Emory or my mixed heritage,” says Groce, “although this explains my brother’s blond afro.”
Her family’s secrecy may also explain, in part, why Malick’s historical significance has been lost. Emory Conrad Malick, who studied at the Curtiss Aviation School on North Island, San Diego, received his pilot’s license in March 1912, when he was 31 years old, making him not only the first known African-American pilot, but also the first black person to get a pilot’s license in the United States—some 14 years before aviator James Herman Banning, who was long thought to be the first. Once Groce has finished her book, she hopes to donate Malick’s papers to the National Air and Space Museum. In the meantime, she has given the Museum copies of various items.
“We don’t often collect copies of material,” says Patti Williams, the Museum’s supervisory and acquisition archivist. “We like originals, but this story is really intriguing. We love to collect anything on early minority pilots because there were just so few of them.”
Of the information Groce has given the Museum, Williams says, “It changes our entire perception. Was Malick the anomaly? Or were there other minority pilots that we just don’t know about?”
There’s still a lot about Malick that isn’t known, but Groce has discovered that before 1910, he built and flew his own gliders near the Susquehanna River. By 1914, reports Pennsylvania’s Selinsgrove Times, Malick had purchased a biplane, which he flew over the town “to the wonderment of all…. [F]actories temporarily shut down to witness the novelty.”
Malick later moved to Philadelphia, where he did aerial photography for the Aero Service Corporation and Dallin Aerial Surveys, and worked for the Flying Dutchman Air Service, which offered flight instruction, aerial photography, and passenger flights. Some of the family’s papers indicate that Malick helped establish Flying Dutchman with Ernest Buehl, something Groce is hoping to confirm.
On a brisk March day in 1928 at a Camden, New Jersey airshow, Malick took two passengers for a quick hop in his Waco three-seater. They were barely aloft when the engine died. Malick banked to the left to avoid spectators; unfortunately, the wind caught the aircraft, and the Waco crashed. “The entire plane seemed to crumple as if it had been smitten by the fist of a giant,” reported the Sunbury (Pennsylvania) Daily Item. The two passengers were injured.
Later that year, Malick crashed again—the cause isn’t known—this time injuring himself and killing his passenger. He never flew again. He remained interested in aviation; at a flying club banquet, Malick displayed the 60-horsepower engine that powered his 1914 flight over the town. But the aviator refused all opportunities to go flying. Documents at the Snyder County Historical Society say that in the 1930s, when local pilots offered to take Malick flying, he would reply, “I had my fun, and now I’m done.”
In December 1958, when he was 77 years old, Malick slipped and fell on an icy sidewalk in Philadelphia. He died in the hospital. With no identification on him, his body lay unclaimed in the morgue for more than a month, until his identity could be established.
Malick’s sister—Groce’s grandmother—was put up for adoption when she was two, and family history got a bit blurred. Now Groce is trying to recover information that was lost for two generations. When she does, we hope to learn more about this pilot.
Comments (14)
Fascinating! I do hope there is more to come on this man's story.
Posted by Jen Knight on January 26,2011 | 05:38 PM
I am very happy to learn of this bit of history. I am amazed to realize that even though I have been flying airplanes sincw 1939, and helicopters since 1979, I never heard of Emory Malick until 2010! I was fortunate to meet his niece, Mary Groce, in a Tuskegee Airmen meeting, and she gave me a copy of what she had written about her uncle Emory.
I have often, when speaking to students and to groups of people, mistakenly told them that Bessie Coleman returned to this country, from France, to become this Nation's first Black licensed pilot in 1926. She and Jaques Bullard went to
France to get pilot certification because they could not receive it in this country!
Except for the fact of blatant racism, I cannot understand how pioneer Emory Malick's achievements were not widely publicized, regardless of the fact that he was Black! All accounts of Aviation activity were newsworthy! This man was doing noteworthy things long before Charles Lindbergh became famous!
I commend the honesty of all of the individuals who have made him a contributor to the history of Aviation!
Posted by Roscoe D. Draper on January 27,2011 | 10:56 PM
That is AMAZING! Although a white person, I became interested in Black History when I retired in 1999. I had retired early due to a back injury and was looking for something to grab on to. For the past 11-12 years, I have written and lectured on this subject with the bulk of my work being on 19th Century African American Women Freedom Fighters, such as Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth and many others. I have spoken about Bessie Coleman many times as well as the Tuskegee Airmen. One of my favorite places to speak has been during Black History Month (Feb)at the Howard Hughes Museum in McMinnville, Oregon. The museum is at the Evergreen Aviation sight. Hughes's mammoth airplane is there for all to see.
I also have published several hundred newspaper articles and have met several of the Tuskegee Airmen in person. My newspaper articles have helped a local Portland, Oregon newspaper win several national awards in Black History writing.
These days I write script for African American television documentaries and occasionally visit classrooms. This year I will be talking to some kids at a grade school in Beaverton, Oregon.
I am absolutely thrilled about this. I would love to get some more information on this man from his niece. I just might be able to get an article done in time for Black History Month. Thanks for publishing this.
Ron Weber
ronweber1@frontier.com
503-579-7749
Posted by Ron Weber on January 30,2011 | 08:34 PM
All I want to say as a black man in the Aerospace line is thank you Groce! let us know when the book is out. Once again Cheers! and may the gentle soul of Emory Malick rest in perfect peace.
Posted by Maximillian on February 2,2011 | 07:46 PM
VERY INTERESTING REPORT.I HAVE BEEN USING BESSIE COLEMAN & OTHER PIONEERS REFERRED TO, IN SPEAKING & MEDIA STORIES FOR MANY YEARS.I WAS A PILOT IN WW 11 & WILL FORWARD TO MUSEUMS & OTHERS CURRENTLY ENGAGED IN MAKING KNOWN OUR AIR HISTORY. THANK YOU. M.L. HIGGINBOTHAM=AMBASSADOR of GOODWILL= TUSKEGEE AIRMEN Inc.
Posted by MITCH HIGGINBOTHAM on February 6,2011 | 03:58 PM
(P.S. COMMENT) =ALTHOUGH BORN IN Va.I GREW UP IN WESTERN Pa.- SEWICKLEY 10 MILES NW. of Pgh. & PASSED AVIATION CADET EXAM. EARLY 1942 THERE. MONUMENT IN OUR HONOR ,CURRENTLY UNDERWAY IN MY HOMETOWN.HISTORY of BLACKS IN AVIATION , TIMELY, SO WE CAN INCLUDE THIS PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN & FASCINATING PORTION !!!
Posted by MITCH HIGGINBOTHAM on February 6,2011 | 04:15 PM
Ron, I noticed that you use the E mail frontier, does this have any connection with Frontier Airline? I flew with Frontier Airlines (The Original Frontier Airlines) 1972-1986.
There is a lots of Lost History, History writers only wrote about things that they had some interest. History is about who did the writing. In time I hope to see more interesting facts come out.
Bob Ashby MD80ashby@yahoo.com
Posted by Bob Ashby on February 7,2011 | 03:49 PM
This is very interesting; there were no pilot Lic in the United States until 1926.
That is why people had to go to France to get their pilot Lic.
this includes a student Lic in aviation.
Banning's claim to fame is first that he was the nation's first licensed black male pilot. Banning and another black pilot, Thomas C. Allen, became the first black pilots to fly coast-to-coast from Los Angeles to Long Island, NY, in 1932. Using a plane pieced together from junkyard parts, they made the 3,300-mile trip in less than 42 hours aloft. However, the trip actually required 21 days to complete because the pilots had to raise money each time they stopped. Banning was a passenger in a biplane, sitting in the front open cockpit without controls, during a San Diego air show. The Navy pilot at the controls, trying to impress his more accomplished passenger, pulled the nose of the tiny plane up into a steep climb. The plane stalled and fell into a fatal spin in front of hundreds of horrified spectators.
Cause of death: plane crash
James Herman Banning's plane "MISS AMES" -- "FLY WITH BANNING" inscribed on side. Banning is seen in second seat of two-seater Hummingbird bi-plane. Banning performed in air circuses, flew politicians during their campaigns. (One of his passengers was Illinois representative Oscar Depriest, the first black person elected to serve in U. S. Congress since the Civil War.) (See also: 71.364D.1)
Text and Photo Courtesy of the
Farwell T. Brown Photographic Archive
Ames Public Library
Information Services
515 Douglas Avenue
Ames, IA 50010-6215
(515) 239-5656
Respectfully,
Mr. Chauncey E. Spencer II
Detriot, Michigan.
Posted by Chauncey E. Spencer II on February 7,2011 | 06:58 PM
Very interesting. I am reading " Flying Free" by Philip S. Hart, African-American author who writes about America's first black aviators.
We need to educate ourselves and our children...... please!
Posted by maria on July 30,2011 | 05:46 PM
Hello,
My name is Ron Weber. I am a researcher, writer and speaker on African-American History. In my late forties I fell in love with so many heroic stories that I was never permitted to learn growing up. Shame on my Catholic school teachers as well as many publice school districts throughout this country, for their avoidence of such rich and wonderful history. While I found that so many of us Caucasion Americans missed out, I also discovered that many African-American kids missed out too. For the last twelve-plus years I have been "doing my part" in writing and speaking about many Black Americans who changed out history for the better. My favorites have always been the "19th Century African-American Women Freedom Fighters." (Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth and many others)
About a year ago, I read about Emory C. Malick, a black pilot. I am very interested in learning more about him. I was also in contact with a relative of his (neice?) by the name of Mary Groce. Some health issues side tracked me, but I am getting back on my feet. Do you have any more informaton on Emory? Also, do you have any contact information on Mary Groce?
Thank You Very Much,
Ron Weber
503-579-7749
rw11954@gmail.com
Posted by Ron Weber on November 6,2011 | 08:26 PM
I, too, was one who found this very interesting. Genealogy is a past-time of mine. I have downloaded his WWII Draft Registration card from a genealogical database. He was listed in numerous Census as White, as well as having had been identified as White on his WWII Draft Card. Times were harder back then and I guess you did/said what could get your ends met and your family fed, and for this I applaud him.
This is a link to his WWII Draft Card:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y43/imsomary/EmoryMalickWWIIDraftCard.jpg
Hope this is something interesting to some of you.
Posted by Mimi on February 1,2012 | 11:49 AM
This is eye opening for me. I, too, like many of you have never heard of Emory Malick. I just learned of him as I am in the midst of assembling a power point presentation for a computer class, which I am taking as part of my studies for my Bachelor of Science Degree in Aeronautics (BSA) at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, online.
However, this is extraordinary and comforting news to learn. As a black Pastor and Pilot, I have seen the intentional omissions of blacks and their historical contributions to the international field of aviation. What a horrific shame that American public and county schools and universities smothered this most noteworthy and educational information from us all. It's amazing that they did not want us to learn of our rich heritage as black people.
Moreover, they still do not. Ron, thank you, sir, for your diligent search for truthful information about blacks in aviation. As a white man, you are making a huge dent in the hidden data that still evades America's eyes. You are helping to right the hurtful and despicable wrongs that have been encroached on black men and women everywhere.
Thank you,
Pastor Willie Robison - 901-570-3693
Posted by Willie on September 23,2012 | 10:30 PM
I recommend you reconsider the donation of important papers instead to the new Smithsonian Museum of African-American History and Culture. Contact Dr. Lonnie Bunch, Director. This is the newest museum under construction on the Washington Mall.
Posted by Walter D. Street III on October 2,2012 | 09:48 AM
SOOOOO interesting yet, I wonder why this was forgoten
Posted by THE_CHEMICALS___ on May 10,2013 | 10:32 AM