OUR HISTORY

Team Blackstar began in March 2014 when a few African-American skydivers and an amazingly talented videographer (Dennis!) met in Georgia to celebrate their friendship and promote diversity within the sport.

The 1st Annual Record Jump in 2014 consisted of six African-American skydivers who linked up in a "Black Star" formation skydive over Fitzgerald, GA. While African-Americans have long been a part of the skydiving community, the six friends felt compelled to combine their love of skydiving with a desire to give back to their communities.  Thus, Team Blackstar Skydivers was born as a way to promote diversity within skydiving and strengthen ties with communities of color through charitable giving and community service. Along the way we held three more record jumps in 2015, 2016, 2017 and grew from six to over 170 skydivers in six different countries!

Did you know African Diaspora skydivers have rich historical antecedents? Daredevil aviator, Bessie Coleman, was the first female African-American licensed pilot and parachutist. Nearly a decade later, Maxwell Love and Lottie Theodore skydived to ecstatic crowds of 15,000 at the first Colored Air Circus in 1931, outside Los Angeles. Dorothy Darby joined Lottie as one of the earliest black female professional parachute jumpers, with advertised jumps over Atlanta in 1932. Fellow aviator Hubert Fauntleroy Julian earned the moniker “Black Eagle” for highly publicized parachute jumps over Harlem in 1923. Walter Morris and 16 other Black Soldiers from “Triple Nickle” 555th Parachutist Infantry Company were the first African-Americans to earn the prestigious U.S. Army Parachutist Badge in 1944.

Skydiving has long had an incredibly diverse history.  Parachutes were first mentioned in Chinese literature 2,000 years ago.  17th century reports of parachuting in Siam (modern day Thailand) inspired 18th century European parachute design.  The dream of human flight is universal. It’s no wonder, our members come from all over the world!