Jesse L. Brown

Brown sitting in the cockpit of his F4U Corsair in Korea in late 1950

Jesse LeRoy Brown was the first African-American aviator in the U.S. Navy.

He was born in Hattiesburg on October 13, 1926, and died on December 4, 1950, when he was shot down over Korea. The Forrest County Tax Services building in downtown Hattiesburg is dedicated to him.

The 2022 movie Devotion is based on his life.

Further reading

• A war hero who was a stranger in his own land
• Wikipedia article