Oklahoma Aviator's Life Featured In Tulsa Library Exhibit

Have you ever heard of James Herman Banning? The Oklahoma native was the first African-American to fly across the continental United States.

He did it in a plane he built himself, according to Alicia Latimer, African-American Resource Center Coordinator for Tulsa City-County Library System.

Banning, born in 1899 in Oklahoma, learned to fly in Iowa after his family moved there. He was the first black aviator to obtain a license from the U.S. Department of Commerce, EarlyAviators.com states. 

The "Fly With Banning" exhibit on display now at Rudisill Regional Library tells some of the Greatest Stories Never Told, Latimer said. Banning died at an air show with another pilot at the controls.

The Banning exhibit will be in the lobby through March 10, 2017. It's free and open to the public at 1520 North Hartford Avenue.