Black History Month: A Look at Howard “Skippy” Smith
Within San Diego there are many notable Black activists and important icons who influenced American culture, politics, and the labor movement. One such entrepreneur turned advocate was Howard “Skippy” Smith. If the name doesn’t sound familiar, that’s not surprising. Smith was not a politician or an orator, he was a business owner who pushed for progress by just doing what he thought was right.
Born in Alabama in 1913, Smith moved to California during the great depression, as many did, with little to nothing in his pocket. His dream? To be a pilot. There aren’t many sources for this period of his life, but he did learn to fly. By 1939, he had become a renowned skydiver, he and his partner Mac “Skip” Gravelly were well known for the parachute jumps in air shows around the Los Angeles Area.
For the most part, they did “stunt jumps,” these were free falls followed by delayed parachute openings and usually also involved a “spot landing” where you land precisely in a predesignated spot. These activities were dangerous and extremely difficult. But the two of them made a career out of it as Skip and Skippy.
Tragedy struck when, after borrowing a parachute from someone else, Mac Gravelly was killed during an air show. He had been given a parachute missing a pilot chute.
Gravelly’s death significantly changed the trajectory of Smith’s life. While doing a show in San Diego, friends of his encouraged him to apply for a job testing parachutes at Standard Parachute. He met with them, applied, and was hired. He was the first Black person hired to the company and they had the department vote to accept him. He quickly climbed the corporate ladder, starting work as a tester, then he was promoted to packer, then rigger, and then inspector. He worked there for a year and then started his own company called “Pacific Parachute,” a subcontractor for Standard Parachute.
He opened the company with the financial backing of actor and comedian Eddie Anderson, and worked hard to supply parachutes for the war. They opened in 1942 and dedicated the business to Mac Skip Gravelly. The building was on Eighth Avenue in what is now the Gaslamp District. Upon first opening, they had 16 employees, all women who had been trained to use industrial sewing machines. What was notable is that the workforce was fully integrated, Smith made it a point to hire anyone from any race.
After a year of operations his workforce consisted of Black, white, Filipino, and Hispanic women. This is at a time where racial prejudice and segregation were still running rampant, even in the West. At one point, a Black employee was refused service at a nearby café, several white women at the plant took her back to the café for a “showdown” with the shop owner.
Segregation also meant that most Black Americans could not find skilled work, especially at white owned facilities. Despite a recent bill signed by President Roosevelt outlawing discrimination in the hiring process, Black Americans were often shut out of application processes, especially for defense work.
This came at a time when America was pushing production for anything war-related, and a large portion of the US population wanted to help with the war effort. That’s why Smith’s story is so important. He took the push for change onto himself and worked tirelessly to create an integrated workplace where anyone can work.
The Pacific Parachute company produced over 60,000 parachutes during the war. Smith was recognized by Time Magazine, A. Philip Randolph, and many other notable figures at the time. The success of his integrated workforce actually inspired the San Diego Police Department to hire its first two Black officers and the City of San Diego cited his business’s success as one of the reasons to allow Hispanic and Black Americans into the criteria of public housing (as a fun side note, Smith was even honorarily Deputized at one point because of his service to the community, something that was basically unheard of in other integrated cities).
In 1944, Smith moved his plant to Los Angeles and created hundreds of jobs for Black women living there. Due to war winding down, the plant closed in 1946 and Smith led a private life after that. Ultimately, his story is inspiring. A man with 96 cents to his name traveled across the United States, opened a business, and became well-known and respected in his community within a few years. But on a greater scope, his story is an inspiring message to push for the change you want and to make the world a better and more accepting place to live.
Sources and Further Reading
In doing research for this article, we had to do a lot of digging into first hand accounts from newspaper clippings and independent journals. A lot of these sources are extremely interesting windows to the past, but they are definitely “of their time” and thus contain language SDPEBA does not endorse.
“Survey Graphic,” Overview of Pacific Parachute’s History Begins on Page 395
SanDiego.org’s list of Notable Black Residents
Pacific Parachute Timeline
San Diego History Center Smith Receives Award Image
April 22nd, 1939 Pittsburgh Courier Article on Skip and Skippy Air Show
March 27th, 1942, The Norwalk Hour Newspaper Article
March 28th, 1942 Windsor Daily Star Newspaper Article
New Masses Journal – Article on Smith’s Life pg 19