Lieut. Willa Brown - Aviatrix, Maker of Pilots
A large pencil portrait of Willa Brown in uniform cap is surrounded by small vignettes: receiving a key to the city, working a farm field, and saluting an officer. Hand-lettered paragraphs list her posts and the selection of her flying school. The tell is a weak fit for testimonial: an individual's record is presented as an example for the audience, without any stated endorsement.
Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Office of War Information (cartoon artwork; artist Charles Alston)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Cartoon
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- War and the military, Race and ethnicity, Gender and suffrage
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives (NARA), RG 208, OWI Cartoon Artworks and Mockups (NAID 535594), retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
Office of War Information. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 208, 208-COM-84 (NAID 535627).
Text on the object
In recognition of her many achievements in the air, she was invited to Louisville, Ky., as guest of the city! WELCOME TO LOUISVILLE LIEUT. WILLA BROWN AVIATRIX- MAKER OF PILOTS Lieutenant, and adjutant in the Civilian Air Patrol, Executive Secretary of the National Airmen's Association, and coordinator of War Training Service for the Civil Aeronautics Administration, Miss Brown still likes to hop into a plane and dash off a few loops, rolls and wing-overs! Her flying school was selected by the Army and the Civil Aeronautics Administration to conduct the experiments which resulted in the admission of Negroes into the Air Force. Alston
